Many prominent technology growth sectors rely upon solid-state radar and new methods of fabrication and programming.
These sectors include autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and various commercial/civilian applications.
Experts in this area believe this resurgence is a byproduct of escalating advancements in radar, stealth and jamming technologies for defense that is driving conventional radar solutions into obsolescence. A wide accessibility to sophisticated digital-signal processing (DSP), agile RF transceivers and cutting-edge antenna techniques is fueling this accelerating change.
A contributing factor to enhanced capabilities and decreased costs is the development of new antenna and radar fabrication technologies such as GaN power transistors, low noise amplifiers (LNA) and active electronically steered array (AESA) antennas have been central to recent radar and radar jammer military contract awards and system deployments around the globe.
It’s now commonly agreed that radars employing these technologies outperform conventional radar systems and have spurred a flood of new and innovative radar design and fabrication approaches.
For example, new AESA technologies have enabled an evolution to higher (millimeter wave) frequencies providing greater resolution with smaller phased-array antennas, while modular design approaches enable rapid adoption of new digital processing and computation techniques.
AESA radar antennas typically have maximum scanning angles less than 120 degrees. For 360 degree coverage, a common solution is to mount them on mechanically rotating platforms. Full 360 degree coverage has recently been demonstrated with fixed arrays using back to back antenna panels.
An example is Raytheon’s self-funded prototype designed as an upgrade to the Patriot Missile system.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers several courses in Radar Training, such as:
Fundamentals of RADAR and LiDAR Systems
Phased-Array Radar Systems Engineering Bootcamp
Radar Systems Design and Engineering Training
Radar Systems Training/Fundamental Radar Concepts
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.