Novel architecture for a photonics-assisted radar transceiver based on a single mode-locking laser

A novel solution for the optical generation of radio-frequency signals for coherent radars is proposed, which exploits the same mode-locking laser of the photonic-assisted radar receiver. The scheme, which is based on the concept of shifting the frequency of a laser mode, exploits a commercial optical in-phase/quadrature modulator to allow using a single mode-locking laser for both the radar transmitter and receiver, making the solution attractive for immediate and practical implementation in photonics-assisted transceivers. © 2011 IEEE