Active Target Multistatic Receiver (ATMR) John Paden

Project Background KU’s Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets was awarded an NSF MRI grant to build a new 24-channel MHz radar system Part of the award includes funds to build a calibration system for the new radar. This calibration system is called the “Active Target Multistatic Receiver” or ATMR The proposed EECS 502 project is to build a complete ATMR system.

WHY BUILD THE RADAR? 3 of XX

Sea Level Rise 4 of XX Images from

Ice Core Site Selection 5 of XX Image from

Large Array 24-channel system composed of three 8-element subarrays Explore MIMO radar concept Improved swath imaging 6 of XX

Wide Bandwidth Wide bandwidth to resolve fine layering from the ice surface to the ice bottom. 7 of XX

WHY BUILD THE ATMR? 8 of XX

ATMR Motivation Monitor system health precisely Array calibration of 24 element VHF-UHF array difficult to impossible any other way Channel equalization more critical because of wide bandwidth (4:1) Active target allows radiometric calibration of radar AND processing system 9 of XX

ATMR DETAILS 10 of XX

System Operation 11 of XX Fig. 1. Illustration of radar transmission (Tx) and reception (Rx) in normal operation mode. Fig. 2. Illustration of radar transmission and reception in calibration mode. The radar’s transmission is (Tx) which is captured by the ATMR and the radar receives both the scattered signal (Rx) and the ATMR’s calibration signal (Cal).

System Description Antenna –Use a single radar system antenna element –Calibration in anechoic chamber 12 of XX

System Description RF Section –Create link budget for signal capture and injection –RF system block diagram and design reviews –Specify, order and test RF components –Assemble and test RF system 13 of XX

System Description Digital Section –HDL to build DSP –Signal processing design –Develop modules and test benches –Integrate modules and complete lab test 14 of XX

System Description Clock Synthesizer –Build AWG and DAQ clock synthesizers integrated to a GPS-synced oscillator. –Provide 1 PPS and position information to digital section with GPS receiver. 15 of XX

Final Integration Integrate RF and Digital systems Lab tests Radar tests 16 of XX

Project Objectives Test with radar system and verify that captured signal and injected signal measure system impulse response at expected power levels Handle full 150 to 600 MHz bandwidth through pipelining and parallelization 17 of XX

Skillsets Antenna calibration Radio system (transmit/receiver) design –RF component selection/testing Digital signal processing: modulation, filtering, detection HDL Lab equipment (setup and programming) 18 of XX