Photonic ADC-based scheme for joint wireless communication and radar by adopting a broadband OFDM shared signal

We propose and demonstrate a novel, to the best of our knowledge, joint wireless communication and radar system based on a photonic analog-to-digital converter (PADC), which can receive broadband radio-frequency (RF) signals. Owing to this property, a broadband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) shared signal, which owns obvious advantages in communication applications, can be adopted to realize efficient data communication and high-performance target detection simultaneously. In the experiment, a communication rate of 6 Gbit/s is achieved. Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging is demonstrated with a two-dimensional (2D) resolution of 3.97 cm × 2.94 cm. Finally, it is verified that high-accuracy radial resolution and high-speed communication can be maintained while increasing the pulse repetition period to detect remote target at around 374.6 m.