Microwave Photonic Integrated Sensing and Communication Based on Polarization Multiplexing and Frequency-to-Time Mapping

The integration of multidimensional sensing, including target sensing, spectrum sensing, and environmental parameter sensing, with wireless communication represents a pressing need for information discovery, interaction, intelligent decision-making, and automation in the future interconnected world of everything. In this work, a microwave photonic approach incorporating multidimensional sensing and communication is proposed based on polarization multiplexing and frequency-to-time mapping. The ±2nd-order frequency-sweep optical sidebands from a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator are shared between two orthogonal polarizations of a dual-polarization Mach-Zehnder modulator: One polarization state realizes the generation of joint radar and communication signals by loading baseband data to support both radar and communication functions; the other polarization state achieves transverse load sensing in conjunction with a phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating, while also possessing the capability for frequency measurement. The concept is experimentally verified. An amplitude-shift keying linearly frequency-modulated signal is generated from one polarization state, supporting 2-Gbit/s wireless communication and 4.8-cm radar ranging resolution; the other polarization state achieves a maximum mean weight measurement error of less than 2.4x 10^-3 N.