Digitally Reconfigurable Radar Array/Waveform

To address the Navy’s need for Improved Ship Self-Defense Against Hypersonic Cruise Missiles, Intellisense Systems, Inc. proposes to develop a new Digitally Reconfigurable Radar Array/Waveform (DIRRAW) operational concept for modern active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar systems that is optimized for the detection and tracking of supersonic and hypersonic cruise missiles. The DIRRAW concept is based on an innovative combination of design and processing techniques that enables the detection and tracking of hypersonic missiles that cannot be implemented by existing radar systems. It incorporates the carrier frequency trade-off of the Doppler and reflectivity characteristics of hypersonic targets, digital beamforming with multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) capabilities, and a set of Doppler-tolerant modulation waveforms with frequency diversity and range-Doppler ambiguity resolution. The DIRRAW concept will enable the AESA-based radar system, installed on high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) or medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft (UA), to provide early detection and tracking of hypersonic cruise missiles, and early cueing to the ship self-defense systems. In Phase I, Intellisense will develop, design, and demonstrate feasibility of a high-fidelity target-and-clutter model establishing the radar system mode and signal processing requirements for operation from a HALE or MALE UA platform on potential-threats, such as hypersonic cruise missile systems with their flight profiles and expected radar cross sections, including the potential plasma surrounding a hypersonic missile. Based on those requirements, Intellisense will develop conceptual radar system mode implementations and evaluate those using the missile and radar models. Intellisense will identify the most promising approaches from a detection and tracking performance perspective and prepare a Phase II plan that demonstrates operational and technical feasibility of the proposed approach. The Phase I effort will include plans for a prototype to be developed under Phase II. In Phase II, Intellisense plans to refine the radar architecture using threat-and-host platform information provided by the Navy and the radar system performance requirements as necessary based on modeling results. At the end of Phase II, a prototype radar system design will be completed and delivered to the Navy.