Electro-Optic Counter-Phase Modulation for Broadband Radio-Frequency Interference Cancellation

Abstract

This dissertation presents an optical method of cancelling radio-frequency interference, and system implementations of this method. The method is referred to as electro-optic counter-phase modulation. The method enables optical cancellation of radio-frequency interference, or opto-cancellation for brevity. The research which drives

the system's continued development centers around the general problem of co-site interference cancellation. In applying opto-cancellation, the cancellation of radio signals over a wide range

of frequencies has been demonstrated. Motivated by early proof-of-principle results, the technique has been successfully applied to an interference-cancellation problem in wireless sensor networks. A detailed performance survey and system-level characterization has been developed, and methods for enabling automatic control of the

system have been explored. The ability to provide cancellation across a wide instantaneous bandwidth is also addressed. Motivation is provided for future work, toward enabling opto-cancellation in the presence of inter-antenna multipath propagation effects. The goal of this dissertation is to advance the state of the art in radio-frequency

interference-cancellation methods by providing a full exposition of the novel opto-cancellation technique and its capabilities.