Direct Radio Frequency Sampling (DRFS)

Drawing on its experiences with a variety of radar system designs, both as the sole designer and as a team member, Colorado Engineering, Inc. (CEI) with teammate Saab Defense and Security USA LLC, proposes to research the state-of-the-market, model, simulate, and analyze the trade-space of five alternative radar front-end designs, which all utilize band pass filters: Direct RF Sampling (DRFS) utilizing a high-speed Analog to Digital Converter (ADC); the Direct Band Pass Undersampling (DBPU) method described in the solicitation; and three variants of a design based on a conventional local oscillator (LO) down converter. Analyzing these design architectures will cover the most promising architectures using current and near-future devices. The results of the analysis derived from modeling with reference designs, utilizing Matlab and RF modeling tools (AWR VSS and Microwave Office), will be presented to the Navy to determine the best candidate design for use in Naval rotating air surveillance radar systems; including the SPS-49, in order to improve performance and reduce costs during the systems' entire lifecycle.