Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar Based on Digital Beamforming and Waveform Diversity

This paper introduces innovative SAR system concepts for the acquisition of high resolution radar images with wide swath coverage from spaceborne platforms. The new concepts rely on the combination of advanced multi-channel SAR front-end architectures with novel operational modes. The architectures differ regarding their implementation complexity and it is shown that even a low number of channels is already well suited to significantly improve the imaging performance and to overcome fundamental limitations inherent to classical SAR systems. The more advanced concepts employ a multidimensional encoding of the transmitted waveforms to further improve the performance and to enable a new class of hybrid SAR imaging modes that are well suited to satisfy hitherto incompatible user requirements for frequent monitoring and detailed mapping. Implementation specific issues will be discussed and examples demonstrate the potential of the new techniques for different remote sensing applications

Digital Beamforming and Traffic Monitoring Using the new FSAR System of DLR

In November 2006 the first X-band test flight of DLR’s new FSAR system has been performed successfully and in February 2007 the first flight campaign has been conducted for acquiring experimental multi-channel data of controlled ground moving targets. In the paper the performed experiments and the used setup of the FSAR X-band section are described and preliminary results in the field of ground moving target indication and digital beamforming are presented

Architectures for ku-band broadband airborne satellite communication antennas

This paper describes different architectures for a broadband antenna for satellite communication on aircraft. The antenna is a steerable (conformal) phased array antenna in Ku-band (receive-only). First the requirements for such a system are addressed. Subsequently a number of potential architectures are discussed in detail: a) an architecture with only optical true time delays, b) an architecture with optical phase shifters and optical true time delays and c) an architecture with optical true time delays and RF phase\ud shifters (or RF true time delays). The last two architectures use sub-arrays to reduce complexity of the antenna system. The advantages and disadvantages of the different architectures are evaluated and an optimal architecture is selected

Development and implementation of an adaptive digital beamforming network for satellite communication systems

The use of adaptive digital beamforming techniques has, until recently, been largely restricted to high performance military radar systems. Recent advances in digital technology, however, have enabled the design of single chip digital beamforming networks. This, coupled with advances in digital signal processor technology, enables complete beamforming systems to be constructed at a lower cost, thus making the application of these techniques to commercial communications systems attractive. The design and development of such an adaptative digital beamforming network are described. The system is being developed as a proof of concept laboratory based demonstrator to enable the feasibility of adaptive digital beamforming techniques for communication systems to be determined. Ultimately, digital beamforming could be used in conjunction with large array antennas for communication satellite systems. This will enable the simultaneous steering of high gain antenna beams in the direction of gr...Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Massive MIMO is a Reality -- What is Next? Five Promising Research Directions for Antenna Arrays

Massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) is no longer a "wild" or "promising" concept for future cellular networks - in 2018 it became a reality. Base stations (BSs) with 64 fully digital transceiver chains were commercially deployed in several countries, the key ingredients of Massive MIMO have made it into the 5G standard, the signal processing methods required to achieve unprecedented spectral efficiency have been developed, and the limitation due to pilot contamination has been resolved. Even the development of fully digital Massive MIMO arrays for mmWave frequencies - once viewed prohibitively complicated and costly - is well underway. In a few years, Massive MIMO with fully digital transceivers will be a mainstream feature at both sub-6 GHz and mmWave frequencies. In this paper, we explain how the first chapter of the Massive MIMO research saga has come to an end, while the story has just begun. The coming wide-scale deployment of BSs with massive antenna arrays opens the door to a brand new world where spatial processing capabilities are omnipresent. In addition to mobile broadband services, the antennas can be used for other communication applications, such as low-power machine-type or ultra-reliable communications, as well as non-communication applications such as radar, sensing and positioning. We outline five new Massive MIMO related research directions: Extremely large aperture arrays, Holographic Massive MIMO, Six-dimensional positioning, Large-scale MIMO radar, and Intelligent Massive MIMO.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Digital Signal Processin

The LWA1 Radio Telescope

LWA1 is a new radio telescope operating in the frequency range 10-88 MHz, located in central New Mexico. The telescope consists of 258 pairs of dipole-type antennas whose outputs are individually digitized and formed into beams. Simultaneously, signals from all dipoles can be recorded using one of the instrument's "all dipoles" modes, facilitating all-sky imaging. Notable features of the instrument include high intrinsic sensitivity (about 6 kJy zenith system equivalent flux density), large instantaneous bandwidth (up to 78 MHz), and 4 independently-steerable beams utilizing digital "true time delay" beamforming. This paper summarizes the design of LWA1 and its performance as determined in commissioning experiments. We describe the method currently in use for array calibration, and report on measurements of sensitivity and beamwidth.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figures, accepted by IEEE Trans. Antennas & Propagation. Various minor changes from previous versio