Microwave photonic or MWP puts together optoelectronics and radio frequency (RF) issues . This technology is used for various applications like optical functions (buffering , dispersion measurement) , RF systems (radar , wireless communication) and measurement systems . One of the interesting applications of MWP is optical implementation of RF delay line . Delay line is one of the important components in phased array antennas , radar systems(doppler filter) , digital communication and optical processing of microwave signals . Optical implementation of RF delay lines has many advantages , including the exceptional properties of optical fibers and optical technology advances , that are the main motivations to realize this method . There are different methods in microwave frequency band to make delay lines for microwave applications . But all of them have high losses , limited bandwidth , limited delay or low operating frequency . So the best method to delay line design is use of MWP technology . The use of optical fiber as a delay line was first proposed by Wilnwer and Heuvel and later developed by optical fiber delay line signal processing work at Stanford University and this field has become an active research area . In the most of cases,the delay lines were implemented by optical switches , FBGs and slow light . In this thesis , design and analysis of a tunable microwave photonic delay line is presented . Design procedure and important challenges of microwave and optical components are discussed . A full structure of a variable delay line with its main microwave and optical components like low noise amplifier , electrical/optical converter , modulators , delay line , switch and optical amplifier are considered and explained . 100ns to 12.7us variable delay with 100ns step is achieved in 8-12GHz bandwidth . The noise figure , gain and spurious free dynamic range of proposed structure are respectively about 8dB , 19dB and 110dB . The obtained results are valuable and pleasant in comparison with the results of the other common structures. کلمات کلیدی: Microwave Photonic , Electrooptic Switch , Delay Line , Optical Fiber
