Phase coherent signal creation with up to twelve channels with high-performance multi-channel Arbitrary Waveform Generator

Radar signal generation requires a signal source with excellent Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR) and very large bandwidth. Highest performance Arbitrary Waveform Generators (AWG) are capable to generate radar signals with 12 or 14 bit resolutions. This high resolution is mandatory to achieve an SFDR of up to -80 dBc. Besides the high DAC resolution, sample rates in the range of up to 8 GSa/s or even 12 GSa/s must be used to achieve a bandwidth of up to 5 GHz. 2-dimensional and especially 3-dimensional radar systems often use phased array antenna in combination with techniques known as Direction of Arrival (DOA) or Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). DOA and SAR receiver testing requires not only very clean signal generation at highest bandwidths on one channel but also on multiple channels.