Antenna Distribution System

SOCOM is seeking to develop a capability to connect Radio Frequency (RF) transmitters/receivers to any antennas in the distribution system quickly and efficiently. The general requirement for this topic is to enable a series of receivers/transmitters to access various antennas, each designed to operate most efficiently in a specific section of the RF spectrum, using control software. There may be cases where more than one receiver/transmitter must access a single antenna and each time this occurs, the secondary receivers/transmitters shall automatically be configured for receive only. Performance requirements include operation over 30 MHz to 6 GHz with maximum transmit power of 100 Watts, and high isolation between primary transmitters and secondary receivers. Bedford Signals Corporation's approach combines expertise in wideband RF switches, cancellers, and high isolation mixed signal Eurocards. Our preliminary design meets SOCOM requirements, and Phase I study will work to further improve performance. A future firmware upgrade can add the capability to perform external interference cancellation using multiple antennas.