Compact Range Measurements of Digital Arrays Leading to Outdoor Radar Experiments (Preprint)
Abstract
Digital array technology has advanced over the past few years allowing the design and manufacturing of large, wideband, multi-element digital arrays that can produce multiple steerable beams from the same aperture simultaneously. These types of systems often have the radio-frequency (RF) and digital components integrated directly to the antenna, requiring new measurement techniques as the antenna under test (AUT) cannot be connected to traditional RF measurement equipment. Several years ago the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Sensors Directorate developed a custom 32 element uniform linear array using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) low-noise amplifiers(LNAs) and a multi-channel digital receiver. Custom software was developed to perform automated element and digital beam pattern measurements using the compact range position controller. Hand tuned calibration parameters were calculated to form the digital beams. This work demonstrated feasibility of digital array measurement within a compact range environment. Recently, AFRL has evaluated a highly integrated digital array with 1024 elements, LNAs, high-power amplifiers (HPAs), attenuators, phase shifters, transmit/receive switches, polarization switches, and eight multi-channel digital receiver/exciters.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1174853
Entities
People
- Andrew Braun
- Bae-ian Wu
- George Kakas
- Thomas Iii Kendo
- Thomas Pemberton
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory