Angle-of-Arrival Estimation of Broadband Microwave Signals Based on Microwave Photonic Filtering

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a photonic approach to estimate the angle-of-arrival (AOA) of broadband microwave signals. Using an integrated polarization-division multiplexing Mach–Zehnder modulator and a differential group-delay module, a microwave photonic notch filter is constructed. The relative time delay in reception of the signal at two separate antenna elements can be obtained by measuring the transmission notches over the signal spectra. The AOA is calculated from the relative time delay and the antenna spacing. The experiment results show that the measurement error is less than ±0.35 ps when the relative time delay changes from −14 to 16 ps.