Spectrum Analyzer Using Spintronic Radar Arrays

Ultra-fast measurements of the frequency of a microwave transmission is a vital task for many military applications including interception and jamming of signals used in communications, radar detection and remote control of weapons. The rapid tracking of adversarial frequency-agile microwave signals allows one to swiftly identify threats, such as radar-guided anti-tank missiles, and undertake appropriate counter-measures in real time, thus substantially increasing the safety of ground vehicles, and assuring superiority of the US battlefield forces in the microwave domain. These vehicle-protection tasks demand ultra-fast (microsecond time scale) measurements of adversarial external microwave signal frequencies in order to neutralize threats in real time. These vital goal can be achieved using recent advances in spintronics technology, where electron spin is used for microwave signal detection instead of electron charge. This technology is ideal for a new type of nano-sized and radiation-hard devices for the ultra-fast detection of  low-power microwave signals. Three key advantages of this technology based on spin transfer torque and tunneling magnetoresistance effects in nanoscale magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) over existing semiconductor technology are: higher sensitivity, which enables detection of adversarial microwave signals over longer distances, and, thus, provides early threat warning higher speed allowing for tracking of frequency-agile signals at the microsecond time scale radiation hardness In the course of our current STTR Phase II Program under the contract # W56HZV-18-C-0026, we developed a spintronic frequency detector based on an array of six MTJs and working in the microwave frequency S band (2 – 4 GHz). The proposed Sequential Phase II STTR Research Program significantly advances the technology developed in Phase II of the Program via: the use of novel spintronic materials with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy that increase the detector frequency to the microwave X band (8 – 12 GHz) relevant to anti-radar applications implementation of software-defined advanced adversarial signal analysis via integration with field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) We will also reduce the SWAP detector parameters down to 3”x3”x1” size, 0.3 kg weight and 100 mW power. We will implement an automatic FPGA-based capability to separate the adversarial frequency-agile signals from multiple innocuous and noise signals, based on the temporal dependence of these signals. This feature will enable operation of the detector under electromagnetic interference (EMI) in realistic battlefield and urban environments. Our goal is to develop fully automated power-efficient spintronic microwave detectors. These detectors will measure, digitize and analyze the X-band spectrum, and will rapidly provide information on adversarial signals to the ground vehicle digital electronics systems, enabling swift implementation of the appropriate counter-measures.