Wideband, Adaptable, Modular, Scalable Digital Receiver Exciter (WAMS-DREX)

A radar or electronic warfare (EW) system that was primarily digital from the antenna to baseband would offer tremendous flexibility and capability in addition to decreasing the cost, maintenance and ability to upgrade performance. As radars increase in both transmit frequency and bandwidth, achieving this goal becomes more challenging, and the key technology for achieving this is in the conversion from digital to analog and vice versa. Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) and Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) devices are continually pushing the envelope in terms of speed, bandwidth and resolution. Colorado Engineering, Inc. (CEI) proposes to design and fabricate high speed ADC and DAC modules using the latest technology to achieve at least 4 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth (IBW) with a resolution exceeding 8 effective number of bits (ENOB). This exceeds the current state-of-the-art and can significantly impact future system designs by eliminating much of the expensive and performance variable analog RF components between the antenna and digital processing elements including mixers, filters, amplifiers and beamformers.