Extended range coverage of an imaging radar system with feed-mounted 94 GHz MIMIC HEMT low noise amplifier and external ILO

Author

Bui, L.Q. ; Alon, Y. ; Neilson, D.

Author_Institution

Lear Astronics Corp., Santa Monica, CA, USA

fYear

1992

fDate

1-5 June 1992

Firstpage

687

Abstract

An airborne forward-looking radar has been developed and built to provide an image of an airport runway for a pilot who is landing his aircraft in zero- or low-visibility fog. The low transmitted power and the high noise figure of a homodyne FMCW front-end limit the range coverage of 94 GHz imaging radars to less than 1000 m. Using a combination of a 2-stage MIMIC, 94 GHz high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) low-noise amplifier and external ILO mounted at the feed locations, the improved imaging radar can produce visible runway images up to 3000 m away. The first FMCW runway images are shown to demonstrate the 94 GHz system resolution.<>

Keywords

MMIC; aircraft instrumentation; field effect integrated circuits; high electron mobility transistors; microwave amplifiers; microwave imaging; radar systems; 2-stage amplifiers; 3 km; 94 GHz; EHF; FMCW runway images; MIMIC; MM-waves; airborne forward-looking radar; airport runway imaging; external ILO; feed-mounted HEMT LNA MIMIC; fog; high electron mobility transistor; imaging radar system; low noise amplifier; range coverage; system resolution; Airborne radar; Aircraft; Airports; Feeds; HEMTs; Low-noise amplifiers; MODFETs; Noise figure; Optical imaging; Radar imaging;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 1992., IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Albuquerque, NM, USA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0611-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.1992.188077

Filename

188077