Innovative Technologies for Miniaturized Affordable Battlefield Hardened Proximity Sensor

This Phase I SBIR program will define the requirements and the development plan for a broadband monolithic microwave transceiver integrated circuit which will enable the production of the next generation of precision end-game proximity sensors suitable for deployment on low-cost high-volume precision Army weapons. The objective of this SBIR effort is to integrate proven pulse-Doppler proximity sensor technology into a form factor that is suitable for deployment on low-cost high-volume precision Army weapons. This architecture leverages the flexibility of wideband RF circuits and digital signal processing to mitigate the problem of operating an RF proximity sensor in an EMI dense environment. The key innovations for the proposed effort: (1) Partitioning the digital and RF functions to leverage the use of COTS signal processing integrated circuits. (2) Maximizing the bandwidth of the RF subsection so as not to constrain the selection of an application specific operational or signal bandwidth. (3) Maintaining generic functionality in the signal generation capabilities of the RF subsystem so that software programmable waveforms can be generated in the digital subsystem. (4) Implementing common industry standard interfaces to facilitate easy integration (Plug & Play).