SBIR-STTR Award

Agile RF Systems LLC has assembled a team of experts in phased array systems, weather radar, and hard target search and track signal processing to conduct a comprehensive trade study and determine the best antenna and system architecture for the USAF Portable Doppler Radar (PDR) mission. These experts have designed and fielded several 1+ meter class radars specifically for weather surveillance using phased array and conventional gimbaled reflector antennas. The team has also fielded tracking software that is deployed worldwide in USAF and other US military forces surveillance radars. Using this expertise, trades on mechanical and electronic scan, single versus dual polarization, single versus dual frequency, single versus multiple faces, and multifunction to include air surveillance versus single weather detection will be completed with quantifiable metrics to make unambiguous recommendations for future PDR implementation. Once the study is completed, this team has all the requisite capabilities to efficiently design, fabricate and demonstrate a complete PDR system in a Phase II follow-on program while ensuring the system is very portable and has a very high hardware and software reliability based on many past experiences with fielded radar system technologies.

Benefits:
There are several phased array based and conventional weather radars that are commercially available today or will be near term. However, none are specifically designed for portability nor are they implemented with ease of maintenance when failures occur. Based on our team’s previous experience in the design of 1+ meter class weather radars, we have identified an architecture that has great potential for minimizing system cost while greatly enhancing maintainability and minimizing weight. This candidate architecture will be traded against all other architectures for a final system architecture recommendation mutually concluded with the USAF review team. Through selection of the Agile RF Systems team, the competitive field of suppliers will grow to yield a superior product diversity to the USAF.

Keywords:
Phased arrays, Hybrid scan arrays, weather radar architectures, surveillance radars

Agile RF Systems LLC has assembled a team of experts in phased array systems, weather radar, and hard target search and track signal processing to conduct a comprehensive trade study and determine the best antenna and system architecture for the USAF Portable Doppler Radar (PDR) mission. These experts have designed and fielded several 1+ meter class radars specifically for weather surveillance using phased array and conventional gimbaled reflector antennas. The team has also fielded tracking software that is deployed worldwide in USAF and other US military forces surveillance radars. Using this expertise, trades on mechanical and electronic scan, single versus dual polarization, single versus dual frequency, single versus multiple faces, and multifunction to include air surveillance versus single weather detection have been completed to make unambiguous recommendations for future PDR implementation. The study has concluded that a hybrid solution at X-band meets all USAF requirements. Dual polarization is included to simplify system calibration and improve measurement accuracy with minimal impact to the system cost. Last, a preliminary bill of materials has been assembled that is substantially less than the target system price of $500K providing ample room to cover integration and tests costs while meeting the USAF price objective.

Benefits:
There are several phased array based and conventional weather radars that are commercially available today or will be near term. However, none are specifically designed for portability nor are they implemented with ease of maintenance when failures occur. Based on our team’s previous experience in the design of 1+ meter class weather radars, we have identified an architecture that has great potential for minimizing system cost while greatly enhancing maintainability and minimizing weight. The recommended baseline for the future PDR includes a software defined radar and digital beamforming to support multiple simultaneous receive beams. This combination is not currently available at low system cost providing a new source of supply for low cost, state-of-the-art radar systems. Through selection of the Agile RF Systems team, the competitive field of suppliers will grow to yield a superior product diversity to the USAF.

Keywords:
Phased arrays, Hybrid scan arrays, weather radar architectures, surveillance radars, software defined radar, digital beamforming, portable doppler radar