EXTENDING THE PERFORMANCE OF ANRO'S BASEBAND REFLECTOMETER (ABR) FOR U.S. NAVY IMPULSE RADAR APPLICATION

THE PURPOSE OF THE PHASE I PROGRAM IS TO CONDUCT A SURVEY OF THE STATE OF THE ART OF IMPULSE RADAR TECHNOLOGY AND ITS APPLICABILITY TO U.S. NAVY PROBLEMS. ANRO PROPOSES TO CONDUCT BOTH A THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY BY USING AN EXISTING SHORT RANGE IMPLUSE RADAR, DEVELOPED UNDER A CURRENT DNA SBIR PROGRAM FOR INTRUSION DETECTION, AS A BASELINE MODE FOR EVALUATING DIFFERENT INNOVATIONS. UNDER PHASE I, ANRO WILL INVESTIGATE (1) NEW FAST HIGH VOLTAGE SWITCHING DEVICES, (2) WIDE INSTANTANEOUS BANDWIDTH RADIATING ELEMENT, (3) ARRAYS OF THESE ELEMENTS, (4) SHORT PULSE SENSITIVE RECEIVERS, AND (5) APPROPRIATE DISPLAY TECHNIQUES. THE GOALS OF THIS EVALUATION ARE TO ACCOMPLISH INCREASE RANGE AND BEAM STEERING CAPABILITY, WHILE MAINTAINING A 1 FOOT RANGE RESOLUTION OR BETTER. THE PROPOSED PHASE I PROGRAM INCLUDES, SPECIFICALLY, THE EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF DEPOSITED FILM AMORPHOUS SEMICONDUCTOR SWITCHES, TIMELIMITED IMPULSE RESPONSE RADIATINE ELEMENTS, AND NEW SUPERHETERODYNE RANGE GATED RECEIVER CONCEPT NOW OPERATING AND INVENTED BY TIME DOMAIN SYSTEMS, INC. (TDSI). LIMITED FIELD TESTING UNDER PHASE I WILL BE PERFORMED BY SPERRY MARINE, INC (SMI), A SECOND SUBCONTRACTOR. UPON SUCCESSFULY COMPLETING PHASE I, ANRO WILL WORK WITH NAVY PERSONNEL IN DEVELOPING AN IMPULSE RADAR FOR A GIVEN APPLICATION; FOR EXAMPLE, DETECTION OF SEA SKIMMING MISSILES. AS MORE COST EFFECTIVE HIGH VOLTAGE SWITCHING DEVICES BECOME AVAILABE, THEY WILL BE INTRODUCED DURING PHASE II.