Challenges for aerospace measurement systems: Acquisition of wideband radio frequency using Analog-to-Information converters

In this survey, an investigation of the research trends in acquisition of wideband radio frequency (RF) for aerospace telecommunications is presented discussing the latest proposes available in scientific literature. In order to highlight the critical importance of a wideband acquisition system that can be used for RF spectrum sensing, a short overview of the RF spectrum utilization in case of aerospace wireless telecommunications is reported. A discussion about the new trends in digitizing of waveform, part of RF receivers, as well as the current limitations for wideband RF acquisition systems, is described. Since the scientific literature describes the Compressive Sensing (CS) as a potential candidate for a practical solution in designing of wideband RF spectrum acquisition systems by using an Analog-to-Information Converter, pros and cons and future research directions on this paradigm are also reported in the paper.