Microwave photonics for Integrated multifrequency lidar / radar system

Surveillance systems, both based on radio frequencies (Radio Detection and Ranging: radar) and optical signals (Light Detection and Ranging: lidar), are evolving toward multiband multifunctional systems that are putting electronic technologies under pressure. Thanks to its intrinsic high stability, ultra-wide bandwidth, low loss propagation, EMI insensitivity, and high frequency of the optical carrier, photonics can be exploited not only for optical systems but also for facing these new requirements in RF systems. In fact, microwave photonics technologies play a crucial role in the generation of very stable multi-band radiofrequency (RF) sources, and in very precise and wideband RF signal detection and digitization, guaranteeing a higher level of flexibility and reconfigurability, and the complete software-defined configuration of radar systems. At the same time they allow to implement multifrequency lidars able to synthesize tunable RFs on optical carriers, for the exploitation of RF radar techniques in lidar systems. Moreover solutions based on integrated photonic circuits allow for a reduction of power consumption and footprint thanks to the subsystems' implementation on a chip.