Ultra-Wideband Chirp Fourier Transform Processor

A Chirp Fourier Transform (CFT) processor is described which establishes new performance levels for wideband signal processing. The CFT module accepts analog signals in an 80 MHz bandwidth over a 10 microsecond input observation frame, computes the Fourier transform and outputs the baseband spectra in 12-bit digital I, Q format to a Frequency Domain Processor (FDP); processing rate is equivalent to 400 MCOPS. This module, offering a marriage of state-of-the-art analog and digital circuit techniques, removes the oven requirement for temperature stabilization of LiNbO3 SAW devices, while matching their wideband performance with the latest advances in digital signal processing devices. Applications include communications equipment such as JTIDS, Ref. 1, EW and radar systems.