Electro-Optic Terminal Protection for Radar Systems Phase II

The potential threat of directed energy weapons (DEW) and other high peak power electromagnetic transient signals require radar systems to implement front door protection against high power signals. Fast ultra wideband (UWB) and high power microwave (HPM) signals are not successfully blocked by most current protection technologies. The Phase I work demonstrated a quasi-passive, solid state electro-optic terminal protection system (EOTPS) to effectively block UWB and HPM signals from the front end of radar systems. The device uses power from the incoming transient to switch the signal line to ground. Because the system as a whole requires no external power other than the transient, it can be considered a passive device. Inherent delay in the system permits the switch to become fully conductive before the transient arrives, effectively creating a system with a negative switching time. This allows the entire transient to be reflected, in contrast to other high power terminal protection techniques which allow part of the transient to reach the LNA. The Phase II proposal presents a plan to further develop the performance of the EOTPS for higher frequencies and to coordinate with two prime contractors in developing test validation procedures to integrate this technology into BMDS architectures.