Development of Dual Polarization Phased Array Radar
Masakazu Wada, Hideto Goto, Fumihiko Mizutani, Toshiba Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
Tomoo Ushio , Shigeharu Shimamura, Satoru Yoshida, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
Seiji Kawamura, Hiroshi Hanado, Shinsuke Sato, Toshio Iguchi, NICT, Tokyo, Japan
1. Overview
In recently years, weather radar is more than ever required to have the capability of high precision observation, dual polarization for particle discrimination and phased array for fast observation. We have developed high precision dual polarization weather radars which utilize solid-state transmitters as well as one-dimensional phased array weather radars with one-dimensional active phased array antennas which allow fast three-dimensional observation.
And now, we started the development of radar which integrates the two functions of dual polarization and phased array. This paper describes the overview of the radar. This research is conducted jointly with NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) and Osaka University: NICT investigates the synchronization technology by using plural radars, while Osaka University develops the signal processing method of digital beam forming and Toshiba is responsible for system design and equipment manufacturing.
2. Development concept
We already developed one-dimensional phased-array radars which mechanically drive the system in the horizontal direction and which perform electronic scanning in the vertical direction. Although this radar embodies 24 channels of transmitter system and 128 channels of receiver system in a single unit, Toshiba tried to provide low-cost radar systems by the use of highly integrated circuits. To produce a two-dimensional phased array radar, 128 On the other hand, Toshiba has developed and manufactured all-in-one chips in the GHz band used for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The equivalent functions required for radars such as up- and down-conversion, D/A and A/D conversion and signal amplification are already implemented in a single chip and very low-cost chips which are produced by mass production are readily available for radars. Table 1 shows the ranking of semiconductor vender by revenue in 2011. Toshiba which is ranked at the third is also the manufacturer of weather radar and is the only manufacturer in the world that has expertise both in the high frequency semiconductor technology and in the weather radar technology. Therefore, Toshiba started to develop dual polarization phased array weather radars which will bring forth unprecedentedly high cost effectiveness by utilizing the technical proficiency in the fields of electronic device and social infrastructure. Electronic Devices Division of Toshiba will develop the dedicated chips for the radars and Social Infrastructure Division will develop the radars that incorporate these chips. 3. Development status Table 2 shows the development schedule of the dual polarization phased array radar. Toshiba finished the overall design of the system and produced a prototype of the portion which is difficult to manufacture last year. Figure 1 shows the prototype amplifier circuit. Various functions are implemented on a several square millimeter chip. 4. Conclusion We started to develop dual polarization phased array weather radars by making optimum use of their original expertise in the semiconductor technology. We will develop radars which are suitable for a wide variety of applications by collaboration with various researchers and operators. 5. Acknowledgement This research is subsidized by the research and development support program of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Table 1 Top 10 Semiconductor Vender by Revenue, Worldwide, 2011(Millions of Dollars) Table 2 Figure 1
Supplementary URL: http://www.toshiba.co.jp/sis/en/des/weather/
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