Real-time processing of microwave communication signals based on a programmable integrated photonic processor

A novel on-chip programmable photonic processor based on an arrayed Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) with a forward transmission structure is proposed and demonstrated for real-time multipath interference and self-interference cancellation of wireless microwave communication signals. The proposed technique is experimentally validated, showing its capability to mitigate the multipath interference in an amplitude-shift keying (ASK) signals to achieve error-free transmission. In addition, the programmable photonic processor can also be configured to achieve self-interference cancellation between transmitting and receiving antennas for up to 9 dB with signal bandwidth from 6.2 to 7.0 GHz. These experimental results confirm the feasibility of the on-chip signal processor and provide new insights for future communication signal processing research.