Photonic generation of a dual nonlinear chirp microwave waveform in Ku-band and its comparative study with dual linear chirping capability to distinguish range-Doppler coupling in radar application

Abstract

Due to very high frequency and large time bandwidth product, photonic generation, and processing of arbitrary microwave waveforms has been an interesting topic in the area of remote sensing application. Here, a photonic technique is proposed for the generation of a dual non-linear chirp microwave waveform in Ku-band. This methodology is based on the principle of optical external modulation through cascading of two Mach-Zehnder Modulators. Its application has been investigated in modern radar system in terms of range-Doppler resolution. A comparative study has been done on the performance analysis of a dual chirp signal with nonlinear and linear chirping capability.