CHIRP WAVEFORM COMPATIBLE COHERENT C-BAND PULSED RADAR TRANSPONDER

A REQUIREMENT EXISTS FOR A C BAND TRANSPONDER THAT IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE CHIRP WAVEFORM MODE OF THE WESTERN SPACE AND MISSILE CENTER GROUND BASED TRACKING RADAR NETWORK. SUCH A DEVICE MUST BE CAPABLE OF COHERENT REPLICATION OF LINEAR FM WAVEFORMS AS WELL AS OTHER COHERENT WAVEFORMS SUCH AS PULSED CW AND PHASE ENCODED. COHERENT OPERATION PERMITS SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN TRANSMITTER POWER. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES AN APPROACH WHICH APPLIED DIGITAL RF MEMORY (DRFM) TECHNOLOGY TO THE PROBLEM. A DRFM BASED APPROACH WAS THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING COMPATIBLE WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF WAVEFORMS, IT CAN UTILIZE SMALLER AND LESS EXPENSIVE MICROWAVE REFERENCE SOURCES THAN OTHER APPROACHES, AND UNLIKE OTHER APPROACHES, THE MAJORITY OF THE DEVICE CAN BE FABRICATED IN MONOLITHIC CIRCUITS. A 2 PHASE PROGRAM IS PROPOSED. IN THE FIRST PHASE THE TRANSPONDER SYSTEM OPERATING REQUIREMENTS WILL BE DETERMINED. BASED ON THE DEFINED REQUIREMENTS THE PERFORMANCE OF POSSIBLE TRANSPONDER CONFIGURATIONS WILL BE ANALYZED AND MODELED TO DETERMINE THE OPTIMUM APPROACH TO MINIMIZE SIZE, COST, AND POWER CONSUMPTION. THE FIRST PHASE WILL CONCLUDE BY SPECIFYING IN APPROPRIATE DETAIL THE DESIGN OF THE COHERENT RADAR TRANSPONDER AND DEFINING A PHASE II DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM TO CONSTRUCT AND TEST A BRASSBOARD SYSTEM. THE PERSONNEL WHO WILL BE ENGAGED IN THE WORK ARE LEADERS IN DRFM TECHNOLOGY.