Manuel Rius Mercado

The use of Photonics technology for the generation of arbitrary microwave signals permits to overcome the limitations of electrical systems and its direct integration in radio over fibre systems. The photonic technique based on microwave photonic filters presents ease of reconfiguration and frequency tuning of the generated waveform, as well as robustness and simplicity of the different structures.

In this thesis, the study and implementation of arbitrary microwave signal generators with optical processors based on microwave photonic filters is introduced. Firstly, a theoretical development of the general transfer function is found for the photonic systems based on microwave photonic filters with optical processors composed by delay lines or dispersive devices. This theoretical development has permitted to evaluate the harmonic distortion generated in these systems, which has revealed its relevance when a design of these systems is carried out. Secondly, arbitrary microwave signal generators based on microwave photonic filters have been proposed and specific waveforms have been generated for Ultra-Wideband technology as well as chirped signals, specifically, electrical chirped pulses. Moreover, capabilities of reconfiguration and tuning of the generated signal have been demonstrated for the proposed systems. Regarding theoretical response in relation to experimental measurements, a good concordance has been found and, consequently, the theoretical development has been validated. In this way, this theoretical development has been proved as a suitable tool to design photonic generators of arbitrary microwave signals.