Design of Photonics-Based FMCW Radar Transceiver System

Photonics-based radar system is designed and fabricated for X-band frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar with optical devices, and it is demonstrated by conducting system integration and far-field tests. The photonics-based radar system generates broadband linear frequency-modulated (LFM) signals with a bandwidth that is 20% of the X-band of the center frequency for high-resolution inverse synthetic-aperture radar (ISAR) images by using an electro-optical modulator. It directly processes broadband target signals with photonics devices. To perform a field test using the proposed photonics-based radar transceiver system, the output powers for the long-range and short-range modes were designed to be 7 W and 100 mW, respectively. The far-field test confirmed a detection range of the simulated target with a 10-m2 radar cross section (RCS). A drone ISAR image with a 7.5-cm high-range resolution is achieved by applying broadband LFM signals with a bandwidth that was 20 % of the X-band. The result of this study can enhance the ability to design photonics-based radar systems and assist the development of FMCW radar for detection, tracking, and ISAR images.