DESIGN OF AESA RADAR TR MODULE USING COTS COMPONENTS

Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. A radar system consists of a transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in

Project Title

DESIGN OF AESA RADAR TR MODULE USING COTS COMPONENTS

Project Area of Specialization

Information & Communication Technology

Project Summary

Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. A radar system consists of a transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to determine properties of the object(s). Radio waves (pulsed or continuous) from the transmitter reflect off the object and return to the receiver, giving information about the object's location and speed.

Radar was developed secretly for military use by several nations in the period before and during World War II. The term RADAR was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for Radio Detection And Ranging.

The modern uses of radar are highly diverse, including air and terrestrial traffic control, radar astronomy, air-defense systems, antimissile systems, marine radars to locate landmarks and other ships, aircraft anti-collision systems, ocean surveillance systems, outer space surveillance and rendezvous systems, meteorological precipitation monitoring, altimetry and flight control systems, guided missile target locating systems, and ground-penetrating radar for geological observations. High tech radar systems are associated with digital signal processing, machine learning and are capable of extracting useful information from very high noise levels. Radar is a key technology that the self-driving systems are mainly designed to use, along with sonar and other sensors.

With the emergence of driverless vehicles, radar is expected to assist the automated platform to monitor its environment, thus preventing unwanted incidents.The receiver then receives the radar signals which are weak and hard to understand. These radar signals then go through electronic amplifiers and signal processing methods through which the output is analysed.

There are various types of Radars depending upon technology as illustrated by the following diagram.

The Radar technology which has shown potential to develop as a must have technology for defense forces is phased array antenna radar. As its name suggests phase array antenna Radar consists of an array of antenna whose single radiators can be fed with different phase shifts. Therefore the beam of the antenna can be steered electronically. The main principle of phased array antenna Radars is interference that is phase dependent superposition of two or several radiation sources. The in-phase signals amplify the each other and counter phase signals cancel each other, by controlling the phase shift and delay the beam can easily be steered to the required direction without moving the apparatus as this was the case.

Project Objectives

The passion and commitment to serve our nation motivated the entire team and drove us in this domain. Pakistan does not have AESA Radar  technology yet and as our neighbors are close to purchasing RAFAEL which does have AESA Radar, it is almost an obligation for us to act in this regard and somehow benefit our country. So we decided to work on the AESA Radar for the betterment of our defence .

Project Implementation Method

Our main focus is to design and characterize the specifications of transceiver of AESA Radar on software an then on hardware. Fiirst we have searched and maintained the BOM of components of required specs for the T/R module .

1) Low Noise Amplifier (0.02-3GHz having gain of 14 dB , voltage 12V).

2) High Pass Amplifier (0.7-3.5GHz having gain of 21dB, voltage 12V).

3) Low Pass Filter (DC-15MHz pass band).

4) Mixer (2-2.4GHz).

5) DAC 12 Bits (12 Bit digital to analog convertor 1 input 1 SAR SOT-23-6).

6) ADC 12 Bits (12 Bit analog to digital convertor 1 input 1 SAR SOT-23-5).

7) RF Switch (Switching between 0.05-3GHz).

8) PLL/Frequency synthesizers (connectors type) (Frequency range 2.286-2.346GHz).

9) PLL/Frequency synthesizers (surface mount type) (Frequency range upto 3.08GHz).

 First we check the simulations of components on AWR and ASD , after getting the simulations of different components we will start to get the results of components by off-chip method to check the reliability , perfections and results of the components. After getting the desired results we will start to work on block diagram . We will go for a chain method to connect them all in a suitable way . We also can implement on the chip .

Apart from transceiver antenna holds lot of importance as it is used for transmitting and receiving of the signal. In order to produce a beam of high directivity it is important to choose the antenna of good specifications and also the antenna should have good gain so that we do not require many variable gain amplifiers in the baseband of receiving end of the transceiver module.

Benefits of the Project

Radar (Radio Detection And Ranging) technology is the backbone of the air defense of any nation. Radar  is a detection system that uses  radio waves to determine the velocity, angle and range of objects. Radar  technology has its origin from world war II. In France in 1934 an obstacle-locating radio apparatus first came into existence. Since then the Radar technology has seen extraordinary development. With that scientists and engineers also worked on neutralizing the Radar and they come up with jamming of radars and stealth technology. Nowadays most of the fifth generation aircrafts and leading defense forces have Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar which is immune to jamming and stealth technology.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

First we check the simulations of components on AWR and ASD , after getting the simulations of different components we will start to get the results of components by off-chip method to check the reliability , perfections and results of the components. After getting the desired results we will start to work on block diagram . We will go for a chain method to connect them all in a suitable way .

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

IT

Other Industries

Core Technology

Others

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

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