System and method for selective wavelength interleaved filtered technique (swift) adc

A system for selective wavelength interleaved filtering technique for analog to digital conversion, comprising:

• a remote aperture for analog input;
• a modulator operable to transform the analog input into an initial optical signal;
• a photonic front end having a plurality of optical filters operable to filter the optical signal into a plurality of subsequent optical signals and supply local oscillators for intermediate frequency (IF) conversion into electrical signals;
• a segmented subsystem having a plurality of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), each ADC operable to receive and convert one supplied electrical signal derived from the plurality of subsequent optical signals;
• and
• a process subsystem operable to reconstruct the plurality of converted subsequent optical signals into a digital representation of the analog input.

A method for selective wavelength interleaved filtering technique for analog to digital conversion comprising steps of:

• inputting analog input;
• transforming the analog input into an initial optical signal;
• filtering, using a photonic front end having a plurality of optical filters, the optical signal into a plurality of subsequent optical signals;
• receiving, using a plurality of ADCs, the plurality of subsequent optical signals and converting one supplied electrical signal derived from the plurality of subsequent optical signals using one ADC of the plurality of ADCs;
• and
• reconstructing the plurality of converted subsequent optical signals into a digital representation of the analog input.

A method for analog to digital conversion, comprising steps of

• segmenting, using a frequency segmentation, signals into frequency segmented signals in the optical domain using optical filters;
• digitizing said frequency segmented signals into multiple simultaneous digitizing elements;
• and
• reconstructing a digital representation of said analog signal from subsidiary segmented signals based on the multiple simultaneous digitizing elements, using digital filters whose characteristics are derived from those of said optical filters.