Paolo Ghelfi is Head of Research Sector at the PNT Lab of CNIT.
He received the M.S. degree in electronics engineering from the University of Parma, Italy, in 2000. From 2001 he is with the PNT Lab (formerly, National Laboratory of Photonic Networks) of CNIT in Pisa. In 2008, he has been visiting scientist at KIST in Seoul, South Korea.
His current research interests are mainly in the field of microwave photonics.
He has actively contributed to pioneering the use of photonics techniques in radar systems (optical generation of ultra-stable RF carriers over wide frequency ranges, optical generation of wideband amplitude- and phase-modulated RF signals, precise optical sampling of RF signals, processing of optical samples for high-sampling-rate RF receivers, optical beamforming and true-time delay).
Paolo Ghelfi is currently leading research on networks of photonics-based radars, exploiting photonics to develop largely distributed radar systems (including on board of satellites). He is also coordinating a study on the use of microwave photonics in electronic warfare systems, for the realization of wideband RF receivers.
Paolo Ghelfi is actively investigating the use of photonics for wireless communications systems (applications of radio-over-fiber to wireless communication systems, optical up- and down-conversion of reconfigurable wideband RF signals), and in the realization of microwave devices (opto-electronic oscillators and other RF generation schemes, optical phase shifters and true-time delays for RF beamforming), also considering the photonic integration of these structures.
Besides the research activity, he also regularly serves as lecturer in courses of international masters and Ph.D. programs held by Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy.
Paolo Ghelfi has authored or co-authored more than 70 papers on International Journals (10 as invited contributions), more than 180 papers on International Conferences (33 as invited contributions), and 20 patents. He has edited a book and co-authored 6 book chapters. Moreover, he regularly serves as Technical Program Committee member for several conferences. Paolo Ghelfi has been the Technical Program Chair of the International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics in 2021 and 2024.