Encoding Scheme Minimizes Errors in Photonic Converters

摘要

Digitizing wideband radio frequency (RF) signals directly at the antenna is important in defense systems such as electronic warfare digital receivers and electronic signal intelligence collectors. It can eliminate the need for down-conversion to intermediate frequencies that cause spurious signals at the output of the receiver s analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Digitization also can hide any low power signals of interest. A new scheme with an inherent integer Gray code property reduces photonic analog-to-digital converter errors while enhancing resolution.