Reconfigurable Broadband Signal Channelized Reception Technology Based on Parallel Mach–Zehnder Modulators (MZMs)

A reconfigurable broadband signal channelized reception technique based on parallel Mach–Zehnder modulators (MZMs) is proposed. In the upper branch, the unknown broadband signal is modulated onto the ±1st-order sidebands of a frequency-shifted optical carrier. In the lower branch, N parallel MZMs are employed, with each MZM generating two local oscillator (LO) comb lines, which beat with the broadband signal from the upper branch to produce 4N sub-channels. By adjusting the frequency shift of the acousto-optic frequency shifter (AOFS) and the frequency of the LO signals, the system achieves tunability over an operating frequency band of 8 to 40 GHz, enabling simultaneous tuning of the sub-channel bandwidth, the number of sub-channels, and their center frequencies. Simulation experiments show that this technique can down-convert a wideband signal with a frequency band of 12–16 GHz to eight intermediate frequency (IF) signals with eight center frequencies of 0.5 GHz and a bandwidth of 0.5 GHz and down-convert a wideband signal with a frequency band of 32–40 GHz to eight IF signals with eight center frequencies of 1 GHz and a bandwidth of 1 GHz, and the image rejection ratio (IRR) is greater than 26 dB, the passband power fluctuation is less than 0.5 dB, and the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) is 95.17 dB·Hz2/3.