All-Digital Radar Analog-to-Digital Converter

To address the Army"s need for development of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) of signals of several gigahertz bandwidths for improved radar range and Doppler performance, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new All-Digital Radar Analog-to-Digital (ADRAD) Converter. This proposed converter is based on unique phase control for cascaded time-interleaved ADCs. The innovative use of an electro-optical phase control timing distribution bus enables the ADRAD converter to achieve extremely high bandwidth signal processing with 10-GHz bandwidth along with an 8-bit analog dynamic range/resolution so that it can be incorporated into all-digital radar immediately after a low-noise amplifier. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of the ADRAD converter by assessing various methods of AD conversion, constructing a working model of the ADRAD converter, and comparing the proposed concept with current methods. Also in Phase I, contact with a radar manufacturer will be established for future joint development. In Phase II, POC plans to demonstrate the ADRAD converter prototype with 4-GHz bandwidth and 8-bit resolution; characterize its performance by measuring noise, resolution, and linearity; and show how it will perform in a real radar system interacting with the radar manufacturer.