Low Size Weight and Power (SWaP) wideband Digital Receiver Exciters (DREX) technologies for Radar and Communication Systems

Mustang proposes to develop innovative, low Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) Digital Receiver Exciter (DREX) technologies needed for simultaneous operation of the U.S. Navy Fire Scout Radar Autonomous Collision and Avoidance System (RACAS) and Coherent Automatic Radar Periscope Detection and Discrimination (C-ARPDD) modes. The design will also support the integration of multiple Radio Frequency (RF) applications that have historically been treated as separate systems (such as Communications, Navigation, and Electronic Warfare) with lower overall SWaP and cost requirements. This concept is a next-generation DREX design with improved SWaP for a C-Band (5250-5900 MHz) radar and communication array. A binary phase or frequency shift keying communication waveform using the HAD-DREX hardware will be applied. We will show how our design is capable of generating highly complex adaptive transmit waveforms such as radar waveforms with spectral transmit notches and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) waveforms for communications applications. Included will be the benefits of our tightly coupled FPGA-Digital Signal Processor (DSP) solution that enables a substantial amount of signal processing to be performed directly in the DREX, which greatly simplifies the interface to the platform general purpose processor while providing a highly adaptable antenna interface.