A Novel Photonic-Based MIMO Radar Architecture with All Channels Sharing a Single Transceiver

A novel photonic-based multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar architecture is reported based on optical frequency combs and dispersion induced wavelength-dependent time delay. Using the proposed system architecture, we only need one photonic-based radar waveform generator at the transmitter side, whereas only a single receiver, consisting of a photodetector, a low-pass filter and an analog-to-digital convertor, is required at the receiver side. The key significance of the work is that all channels of the MIMO radar system share a single photonic-based transceiver, which can solve the bottleneck problem that has long restricted the application of MIMO radar with a large-scale antenna array, i.e., each channel in a MIMO radar system needs an independent transmitter and an independent receiver. The proposed photonic-based MIMO radar architecture is analyzed, demonstrated and verified by simulation using a 10×10 MIMO radar system and a 15×15 MIMO radar system. The maximum MIMO radar array size that can be supported by the system architecture is also discussed, and constraints on the number of transmitting antennas and receiving antennas are theoretically given.