SBIR-STTR Award

Goleta Engineering (GE) and MMCOMM with support from UCLA will develop a low-cost low-power radar (LCLPR) for small UAV (SUAV) application. The candidate RFs are: W-band, K-band, X-band and VHF/UHF. We will leverage off of existing and emerging technologies such as our Liteweight UAV Radar (LUAVR) to evolve thru extensive tradeoffs a family of alternate designs. One of these designs will be down selected for further development and demonstration in Phase II. Many key enabling technologies need to be combined to facilitate the timely development and fielding of an LCLPR. The LCLPR will be based on commercial components such as miniaturized T/R, ADC/FPGA for signal processing, an 802.11 type device for communications, miniaturized GPS and MEMS IMU for SAR motion compensation. The baseline design employs an FMCW waveform, MMIC hardware including a GAAS FET power amplifier and efficient signal processing. One of the key enabling technologies for implementing the SAR mode is signal based motion compensation (SBMC) to reduce the dependence on a motion measurement sensor (MMS). This capability has been developed and demonstrated on prior efforts by GE. During Phase I applicable SUAV platforms will be evaluated and a candidate selected to mate with the LCLPR for Phase II

The team of GE and MMCOMM with support from UCLA and potentially the U of F will develop a demonstration model of the low-cost, low-power radar (LCLPR) and integrate it on a small UAV. The demonstration model radar will be based on the Lightweight MMW UAV SAR / MTI Radar (LUAVR) system currently being developed for CECOM on an SBIR Phase II+ contract with an expected completion date of 1 Dec 05. LCLPR will be a reduced weight version of the LUAVR. The main innovation will be the replacement of the mechanically scanned antenna with a patch antenna that will be pasted on the side of the small UAV (SUAV). The SUAV will be rotated to scan the beam. LCLPR will be designed to a target weight of 1-lb. The Phase II demo model will weight less than 2-lbs. It will feature advanced and innovative MMW technology. Advanced direct digital synthesis (DDS) waveform generation, advanced digital down conversion (DDC) using FPGA and advanced signal processing will be incorporated. The system will exhibit low power and is designed to very low cost. The radar will feature MTI and SAR modes and have a maximum range to 3 Km. A combination of motion measurement sensor (MMS) and signal based mocomp will be incorporated to insure good image quality. A small UAV partner will be selected from three finalists: Aerovironment, U of F and a commercial hobby craft. The radar will be installed in the SUAV and preliminary flite tests performed.

Keywords:
SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (SAR), MILLIMETER WAVE (MMW), MOTION COMPENSATION (MOCOMP), FMCW, MOVING TARGET INDICATOR (MTI), UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV