A photonic approach to generate arbitrary chirp microwave waveforms using a direct modulated laser source

In this work, a novel microwave photonic approach is applied to generate an arbitrary chirp microwave waveform in the Ku band that possesses a high chirp rate. Chirp microwave signals can be produced in a variety of ways, the most common of which is the shaping of the temporal pulse and the mapping of the wavelength to the time. The usage of Kuband frequencies is widespread in modern radar applications, such as high-resolution mapping and satellite altimetry. The range-Doppler resolution of a radar system can be enhanced by improving its chirp rate, time-bandwidth product, and center frequency. The proposed approach in this work is based on the direct modulated Laser source and polarization controller. The theoretical and simulation analysis has been done to generate a dual linear chirp microwave signal in the Ku band with a center frequency of 12 GHz.