The new generation of remote sensors based on the integration of optics and electronics

The cross-fertilization between photonic and microwave systems is setting new paradigms in radio sensor technologies, providing improved performance and new applications, and allowing for an integration of radio and optics sensors with strong benefits in monitoring and safety applications. Radio sensors as radars are evolving toward multiband multifunctional systems that are putting electronic technologies under pressure. Thanks to its intrinsic high stability, ultra-wide bandwidth, low loss propagation, EMI insensitivity, and high frequency of the optical carrier, photonics can be exploited for facing these new requirements. Photonics can find application in: generation of very stable multiband radiofrequency (RF) sources, very precise and wideband RF signal detection and digitization, wideband beam steering of RF signals in phased array antennas, realization of tunable RF filters, radio over fiber for easier antenna remotization. Moreover, photonics can also be exploited for integrating optical sensors that exhibit complementary features compared to photonics-based RF sensors, in order to improve the awareness of the scene under observation. This integration is based on the partial sharing of the optical hardware, allowing for heterogeneous networks of coherent sensors as well as reduction of power budget and complexity. Finally, on-chip implementations allow for a further reduction of power consumption and footprint.