Photonic Microwave Frequency Measurement Based on Frequency-Configurable Pilot Tones

A photonic technique for microwave frequency measurement with flexible range and high resolution is proposed based on frequency-configurable pilot tones. The method extracts the remote unknown microwave frequency by measuring electrical power at two known pilot frequencies, avoiding dual-channel photodetection and broadband microwave power measurement over the whole interested frequency range. Moreover, it enables flexible measurement range by configuring two pilot frequencies. A proof-of-concept experiment is successfully demonstrated with the frequency range of 6–18.9 GHz and the resolution of 0.1 GHz.