Integrated Photonic Filters for RF Signal Processing

OEwaves, Inc. has partnered with Georgia Tech to pioneer a new RF photonic receiver front-end designed to transform microwave signal processing. The project focuses on leveraging breakthroughs in silicon (Si) and silicon nitride (SiN) integrated photonics to create chip-scale solutions that are compact, efficient, and highly selective.

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The effort combines Georgia Tech’s expertise in integrated photonic structures with OEwaves’ extensive experience in analog photonic systems. Together, the team is developing a wideband chip-scale tuner with IF filtering capabilities, offering a compact and cost-effective alternative to traditional high-cost channelized architectures.

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At the heart of this approach are novel integrated optical filters with ultra-high quality factors (“Qs”). These photonic resonators allow for precise filtering and tuning, enabling highly selective processing of narrow-band, weak, and scattered RF and microwave signals. This architecture delivers rapid tuning across a wide bandwidth, while minimizing size, weight, and power requirements — critical advantages for advanced communication and sensing systems.

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The project aims to demonstrate a fully functional integrated filter prototype system by the end of Phase II. This milestone will mark a major step toward practical deployment of versatile RF photonic tuners capable of optimizing key parameters such as selectivity, bandwidth coverage, tuning extent, and speed, all on a compact integrated photonic platform.

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By merging the strengths of academic innovation and industry-proven rapid development, OEwaves and Georgia Tech are charting a path toward the next generation of high-performance, lightweight, and energy-efficient RF photonic systems.

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View project here.

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