Indoor field-trial in X band of a photonics-based multiband radar on a packaged silicon chip

This paper reports the advancements on a recently presented silicon photonic chip implementing a photonics-based coherent multiband radar transceiver. In this work, the chip has been packaged and engineered for its use in a complete radar system capable of operating up to the X band. The electronic RF frontend and the digital baseband equipment have been developed in order to guarantee performance aligned with the state of the art of conventional radars. A first indoor field trial has been carried out in X band. Range/Velocity acquisitions allow to confirm the radar system effectiveness, posing the base for the next step: the multiband field trial and coherent data fusion.