Low-Cost Chaos Radar

To address the Army"s requirement for Low-Cost Chaos-based Radar solution, TechFlow Scientific and the University of New Mexico will design, develop, and test a prototype chaos based radar employing a coherent receiver with a matched filter. In Phase-I, we will perform a careful design study of the chaos-radar system components. We will develop robust technical solutions such as the use of Titanium Vanadium Dioxide phase-change materials, neural network algorithms, cellular-automata inspired broadband antennas, and InGaP/GaAs synchrodyne amplifiers to address key technical challenges such as the need for high-speed switching of the chaotic oscillator dynamics, equalization techniques to account for inter-symbol-interference due to finite channel coherence bandwidths, novel broadband antennas to accommodate chaotic waveforms, and stable broadband RF power amplifiers for transmission and reception, respectively. We will perform high-fidelity modeling and simulation analysis of the radar system in a simulated cluttered environment to gauge performance. We will also design and fabricate preliminary prototype chaotic oscillators and matched filters operating at lower-RF frequencies, which will be scaled to higher operating frequencies in Phase-II. Our approach will focus on increasing reliability and lowering implementation costs. Our team comprises a cohesive team of internationally-reputed scientists in chaos, radar engineering, antennas, wireless communications and embedded systems.