SDR Based Multi-Mode DBF for micro-satellite SAR

The reconfigurable feature of software defined radio (SDR) architecture gives rise to reusability, scalability, and power efficiency. Reusability of hardware supporting multiple modes of DBF strives for compactness and efficient processing power, which are important issue for micro-satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems. In this paper, according to the SDR architecture, a digital beamforming (DBF) system comprising multiple-beams, DOA estimation and null steering beam modes is realized using an FPGA for the micro-satellite SAR system. Since the hardware reconfiguration has to be processed with minimal delay, the FPGA hardware must be of modularized design. Different modes can share the common module during mode switching.