SBIR-STTR Award

A novel, cost-effective Digital Beamformer (DBF) architecture is proposed. The application of COTS components, used in the manufacture of consumer wireless communications devices, offers a major cost reduction methodology that should lead to the realization of an affordable DBF for a large phased array (thousands of elements). Compared to analog beamforming methods, a DBF offers significant improvement for satellite tracking, aperture resource management, array calibration, and adaptive pattern control for interference suppression. During the Phase I effort, a DBF architecture and design trade-off analyses will be conducted and an optimum DBF architecture will be selected. In addition, the Phase II work plan, which includes the DBF steering of a 4x4 array of horns, will be generated.

Keywords:
Digital Beamforming, Conformal Phased Arrays, Interference Suppresion, Anti-Jam Pattern Control, Adaptive Beamforming, Satellite Operation, Adaptive Pattern Control

Digital beamforming (DBF) for receive beams offers significant benefits over analog beamforming in the field of satellite operations support. DBF allows for improved adaptive pattern control for anti-jamming or interference control, high-resolution direction finding for tracking, antenna auto-calibration, ultra low sidelobes, closely spaced multiple beams, and flexible antenna resource management. Recent advances in digital technology, data processors, and component fabrication techniques for wireless communication has increased the processing capabilities and drastically reduced the cost of DBF systems. Thus, DBF is an attractive approach to enhance the capability of phased arrays for robust operability. In Phase I, receive-only DBF concepts, architectures, and techniques were studied and developed. Among several candidate DBF architectures investigated, an optimal architecture that can be incorporated into a multi-beam geodesic dome phased array antenna (GDPAA) was selected. The objective of Phase II is to perform a detailed numerical simulation and refine the design tradeoffs for the DBF concept selected in Phase I. In addition, an array of 19 horn antennas (with each horn simulating a scanning subarray), and a three-panel array of 12 horn antennas will be constructed to demonstrate multiple simultaneous receive beams in the digital domain and in real time. BENEFIT

Keywords:
(1) Digital Beamforming (Dbf) (2) Conformal Phased-Array (3) Satellite Tracking (4) Interference Control (5) Adaptive Pattern Control (6) Adaptive