An RF Scanning Receiver based on Photonics for Electronic Warfare Applications

We present the design and simulative results of an innovative RF receiver based on photonic techniques that quickly scans the RF band of interest in warfare applications, avoiding the spectrum channelization and thus reducing the receiver SWaP. The scheme is based on a stable mode-locked laser and a specifically designed tunable optical filter, and it simultaneously samples, filters, and down-converts the detected spectrum. The analysis confirms the scheme capability for detecting signals beyond 18GHz, with instantaneous bandwidth >1GHz and dynamic range >40dB. The scheme implementation with integrated photonics technologies will ensure fast scanning (filter repositioning in <100ns), high environmental stability, and reduced SWaP, meeting the increasingly stringent requirements of electronic warfare applications.