  A novel photonics-based RF reception approach is proposed as a competitive
solution to meet the current challenges of photonic-based approaches and to
realize high performances at the same time. The proposed approach adopts the
superheterodyne configuration by a combination manner of electronic techniques
and photonic techniques, including the ultrawideband generation of optical LO,
the two-stage photonic superheterodyne frequency conversion and the real-time
IF compensation. An engineering prototype has been developed and its
performance has been evaluated in the laboratory environment. The experiment
results preliminarily verify the feasibility of the proposed approach and its
engineering potential. The typical performances are as follows: 0.1 GHz~ 45GHz
operation spectrum range (>40 GHz), 900 MHz instantaneous bandwidth, 101
dBHz2/3 SFDR and 130 dBHz LDR, image rejections of ~80 dB for 1st frequency
conversion and >90 dB for 2nd frequency conversion.
