COMPARATOR FOR MILLIMETER WAVE TERMINAL GUIDANCE SEEKER

A NEED EXISTS FOR LOW COST, HIGHLY RELIABLE FRONT END HARDWARE FOR MILLIMETER WAVELENGTH MISSILE HOMING (TARGET SEEKER) SYSTEMS. DIEELECTRIC WAVEGUIDE PLANAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS FOR THIS PURPOSE WERE FIRST PROPOSED IN THE EARLY 1970'S BY THE FOUNDERS OF EPSILON LAMBDA. THE MORE SOPHISTICATED MILLIMETER SEEKERS REQUIRE USE OF A MONOPULSE FRONT END CONFIGURATION. TWO YEARS OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED AT EPSILON LAMBDA ON A DIELECTRIC INSULAR WAVEGUIDE INTEGRATED MONOPULSED FRONT END. THE PROPOSED SBIR PHASE I PROGRAM WOULD UNDERTAKE TO DEMONSTRATE A FULLY INTEGRATED FEED/COMPARATOR ASSEMBLY USING A UNIQUE NEW APPROACH WHICH LENDS ITSELF TO EFFICIENT (AND EVENTUALLY) FULLY AUTOMATED MASS PRODUCTION. THE NEW APPROACH PERMITS FABRICATION AND PRETEST OF FIVE SUBASSEMBLIES SO THAT CRITICAL PHASE AND AMPLITUDE ALIGNMENT CAN BE ACHIEVED. THE SUBASSEMBLIES ARE SUBSEQUENTLY INSERTED INTO THE INTEGRADED FEED/COMPARATOR ASSEMBLY. A SUBSEQUENT PHASE II EFFORT WOULD ALLOW COMPLETION OF THE ENTIRE FRONT END DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION IN A FORM SUITABLE FOR HIGH VOLUME MANUFACTURING. THE ENTIRE FRONT END WOULD BE FORM-FACTORED FOR MISSILE AND PROJECTILE APPLICATION AND BE CAPABLE OF USE IN VERY HIGH G ENVIRONMENTS.