Phased array digital beamforming hardware development at Applied Radar

This paper describes technology development efforts in support of phased-array digital beamforming at Applied Radar, Inc. The development efforts are aimed at increasing the bandwidth and dynamic range and enabling real-time throughput of multi-channel array data. This digital beamforming approach enables improved calibration, increased coverage through multiple receive beams, and adaptive processing and nulling. We describe enabling component technology including multi-channel FPGA-based digital hardware and a multi-channel wideband receiver. We also discuss a multi-channel wideband receiver system that was recently developed for electronic sensing and a wideband digital receiver/exciter (DREX) for radar applications.