This proposal describes a multi-phase plan to develop new and unique software tools to design a digital microwave receiver using software simulation analysis. As a result of the advancement in digital technology, digital microwave receivers are rapidly replacing analog microwave receivers. These receivers include wideband electronic warfare (EW) receivers, narrow band radar and communication receivers. Although there are several approaches to design specific subsystems of a digital EW receiver such as Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and monobit, there is no available design approach for a complete receiver. The key component in an EW receiver is the encoding circuits that generate the pulse descriptor word (PDW). The PDW includes frequency, pulse amplitude, pulse width, time of arrival (TOA) and angle of arrival (AOA). The performance of the receiver mainly depends on the encoder design. However, there is no available literature discussing the encoding scheme because they do not exist. Most of the digital receivers can not achieve their design goals, especially, the ever demanding requirement on instantaneous dynamic range, that is, the capability of measuring a weak signal in the present of a strong one. This proposal is intended to solve these problems.
Benefit: In addition to advancing the state-of-the-art in digital receiver signal processing algorithms for EW digital receivers to maximize performance, the proposed software tools will also guide the user toward developing a consistent and realizable set of requirements. This will avoid the common pitfall of generating unrealistic performance requirements that lead to receiver designs that when built and tested do no deliver the expected performance. Since building and testing a digital receiver can be very costly, the proposed software will lead to a design that will not require iteration to achieve its intended goals. The cost savings and schedule reduction that will result from utilization of the proposed software development tool will make it very attractive to the business community. While this program is primarily directed at EW type receivers, there is a much larger growth potential for commercial applications in, for example, the communication and navigation marketplace.
Keywords: Receiver, Receiver, Radar Receiver, Software and Firmware Algorithm Development, Electronic Warfare, Digital receiver, digital signal processing
