PHOtonic-based full DIgital Radar

PHODIR project aims to study, design and realize a full digital transceiver radar demonstrator based on photonic technology both for signal generation and for RF received signal processing. Hybrid technologies merging second generation optical systems and conventional radar architecture could be the answer to issues deriving from electronic devices poor performances such high SFDR (Spurious Free Dynamic Range) and high phase noise level that are nowadays impeding the construction of a fully digital radar transceiver. Starting from a conventional radar architecture, the generation of high frequency signals in the optical domain at the transmitter section and the use of ultra-high bit rate and short width optical pulse train for RF received signal sampling are the main solutions we are going to investigate in the project to overcome problems related to electronic devices. The innovative research aspects of the proposal are: -Definition of a new full digital radar transceiver architecture based on photonic technology -Development and realization of new electro-optic second generation devices -New parallel signal processing algorithms. The most important benefits arising from the project are: -Electro-optic system integration -New technological development in the design of advanced photonic devices -New technological/scientific development in the design of high performance radar CNIT can provide an high level of experience in the field of photonic devices design and implementation and radar system analysis and design. Theoretical support and experimental test-bed thanks to instrumentations and competences in very high-bit rate Gb/s Optical Time Division Multiplexing Systems and techniques for ultra-fast optical sampling are also provided by CNIT.