Apparatus and method for scalable phased array radar data distribution and beamforming
AssigneeLockheed Martin Corporation
InventorJonathan Fischi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A radar array antenna comprising: a plurality of analog to digital (A/D) converters for converting analog signals from the array to digital signals, the signals supplying input to one or more optical modulators having controllable wavelengths, each optical modulator connected to a corresponding multiplexer, the multiplexer providing outputs to a demultiplexer that distributes the signals to a beamformer.
Claims20
A radar array antenna apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of analog to digital (A/D) converters for converting analog signals indicative of radar return data from the array to digital signals;
- one or more optical modulators coupled to said A/D converters for receiving said digital signals, said optical modulators having controllable wavelengths;
- wherein each optical modulator is connected to a multiplexer, said multiplexer providing outputs via a corresponding optical medium to a corresponding demultiplexer that distributes the signals to a beamformer.
A radar array antenna system comprising:
- an antenna array having a plurality of antenna elements that provide analog data indicative of received radar return signals;
- a plurality of A/D converters responsive to said analog data for converting said analog data to digital signals;
- one or more optical modulators having controllable wavelengths and responsive to said A/D converters for providing said digital signals at selected wavelengths according to a control signal;
- and
- a multiplexer coupled to the output of said one or more optical modulators for providing multiplexed digital signals to a corresponding demultiplexer to form a radar beam.
A radar array antenna comprising:
- an antenna receiver for receiving analog radar signal data;
- an A/D converter assembly responsive to said analog radar signal data for producing a plurality of corresponding digital signals;
- means for modulating a tunable laser using the digital signals to produce one or more modulated optical signals at one or more associated wavelengths, the modulated optical signals being transmitted over one or more fiber optic transmission channels;
- a multiplexer responsive to the one or more optical modulated signals at one or more associated wavelengths for optically multiplexing the modulated optical signals onto a single fiber optic channel;
- a demultiplexer coupled to said multiplexer via said single fiber optic channel for demultiplexing the multiplexed modulated optical signals to produce corresponding digital signals;
- a beamformer coupled to said demultiplexer for beamforming using the corresponding digital signals representing the received radar signal to provide a beamformed output.
A method for receiving analog signals output from antenna elements constituting an antenna array and processing said analog signal to obtain beamformed data, the method comprising:
- receiving in said array a plurality of analog radar signals;
- converting in said array said analog radar signals to corresponding digital signals;
- modulating in said array a tunable laser outputting a waveform at one or more selected wavelengths using the digital signals to produce a modulated optical data signal at said one or more selected wavelengths;
- transmitting the modulated optical data signal over a fiber optic transmission channel;
- optically multiplexing the modulated optical data signal;
- transmitting the multiplexed modulated optical data signal over a fiber optic transmission channel to an optical demultiplexer;
- demultiplexing the optical data signal and converting the signal to a digital signal;
- and
- beamforming using the digital signal representing the received radar signal to obtain beamformed data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.