Miniature, Software-defined Man-Portable Doppler Radar (MPDR) for Atmospheric Measurement

BCI will develop a Man-portable Doppler Radar (MPDR) which can be deployed by dismount soldiers in forward operating areas with a minimal size, weight, and power (SWaP) footprint. This radar will provide adverse weather detection in short ranges (greater than 15km) to support forward-area Precision Airdrop (PAD), aviation operations including landing zones and weather hazard warnings. The MPDR system will complement other atmospheric sensors such as Doppler LIDAR systems, demonstrating interoperability with existing power sources and computing nodes and eliminating custom support equipment that must be carried into the field. Software-defined radar transceivers and processing/control nodes will allow for flexibility in the radar performance under different operating conditions and software-driven system upgrades, as well as extensibility of the radar sensor for other missions such as hard target detection for perimeter defense and air surveillance. The Phase I effort will focus on enumerating the strengths and weaknesses of various system architecture approaches and selecting and documenting an initial design approach that maximizes system performance while minimizing the SWaP footprint. The system design concept will be further refined in the Phase I option based on Army feedback and a prototype will be developed, built, and tested in the Phase II effort.