Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Boundary Waters (Hyatt Regency Minneapolis)
Airborne radar is a powerful tool to observe weather systems, particularly storms over complex terrain, the ocean, polar regions, and forest regions not readily observable by ground-based radars. A scanning Doppler radar on an airborne platform is used for estimating dual-Doppler winds with the help of rapid scanning as the aircraft flies past a storm. Scanning Doppler radar with dual-polarization capability on an airborne platform can measure dual-Doppler winds and retrieve hydrometeor types (ice or water). The National Center for Atmospheric Research is developing and testing the Airborne Phased Array Radar (APAR) system.
Full-size phased array radar (PAR) is constructed using scalable architecture in a modular approach. Modularity and scalability offer flexibility in realizing full-size PAR of desired technical specifications at a reduced cost and servicing PAR consisting of thousands of elements. Typically, a single array panel consisting of a grid of transmit and receive module modules is arranged in a tiled fashion in an active electronic scanning array (AESA). Tiles are identical, and the components are etched on a printed circuit board (PCB). The layout of full-sized AESA determines the gain and beamwidth of PAR. The front-end of the PAR consists of (i) the radio frequency (RF) array antenna front-end, (ii) transmit/receive (T/R) modules, (iii) beamformer, (iv) digital converters (DREX), and (v) power distribution system. The radar back end consists of (i) receive signal processor (RSP), (ii) radar processor and display, and (iii) radar scheduler.
The performance of the APAR depends on the optimal configuration of the front and back ends of the system. The radar system takes advantage of analog and digital beamforming architecture. Since PAR’s transmitters are solid-state power amplifiers, pulse compression is used for improved sensitivity. Traditional analog beamforming will be performed along azimuth, while digital beamforming will be conducted across elevation. This paper describes the expected performance of the APAR system from the perspective of scalable and modular architecture.
Full-size phased array radar (PAR) is constructed using scalable architecture in a modular approach. Modularity and scalability offer flexibility in realizing full-size PAR of desired technical specifications at a reduced cost and servicing PAR consisting of thousands of elements. Typically, a single array panel consisting of a grid of transmit and receive module modules is arranged in a tiled fashion in an active electronic scanning array (AESA). Tiles are identical, and the components are etched on a printed circuit board (PCB). The layout of full-sized AESA determines the gain and beamwidth of PAR. The front-end of the PAR consists of (i) the radio frequency (RF) array antenna front-end, (ii) transmit/receive (T/R) modules, (iii) beamformer, (iv) digital converters (DREX), and (v) power distribution system. The radar back end consists of (i) receive signal processor (RSP), (ii) radar processor and display, and (iii) radar scheduler.
The performance of the APAR depends on the optimal configuration of the front and back ends of the system. The radar system takes advantage of analog and digital beamforming architecture. Since PAR’s transmitters are solid-state power amplifiers, pulse compression is used for improved sensitivity. Traditional analog beamforming will be performed along azimuth, while digital beamforming will be conducted across elevation. This paper describes the expected performance of the APAR system from the perspective of scalable and modular architecture.
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