Wideband Sub-Array Digital Receiver Exciter (DREX) Development and Packaging

Next generation Radars (NGR) for MDA will advance closer to the ideal of a fully digitized array and digital beamforming. In a conventional phased array radar (PAR), analog beamforming networks reduce the entire array into a few combined beams (e.g., sum beam, difference beams) at X-band. Next generation PAR will use a hybrid approach, forming many subarray beams in analog, and then performing a second-stage of beamforming digitally. In analog beamforming systems, only a few DREX modules are needed for the entire radar (one for each beam). For a next-generation hybrid radar, a DREX module is needed for each subarray. Since this could mean hundreds of DREX modules might be required in a complete system, this puts pressure on cost, size, weight, and power (CSWAP) of the DREX module and subsystem. Azure Summit Technology has teamed with a world-class production supplier of small form-factor RF transceiver equipment to develop a reduced CSWAP DREX architecture and product concept for Next Generation Radar. We will leverage the latest RFIC and DSP technologies in mass production for commercial wireless and telecom markets to realize this goal, based on strong experience in RF systems design and DSP systems engineering.