Here is why our radar system
is so unique.
A key requirement in the various applications of our radar, is the need for detection of very small targets.
In particular detecting projectiles in the target scoring application and small foreign object debris (FOD) in the airport safety application, poses significant challenges for a radar system.
To provide detection capability against such small objects, our radar will therefore be operating in the Ka-frequency band(approximately 35 GHz) in which the wavelength of the radar signal is approximately 1 cm.
This is due to the fact that the ability to detect a target diminishes when target dimensions are comparable to the wavelength.
So, using a lower operating frequency with a longer wavelength would mean we could not detect such small targets like projectiles used in aircraft. In comparison many radars operate in the X-band where the wavelength is approximately 3 cm.
So even though it is more complicated to design and build a radar in the Ka band frequency, we have chosen to do so due to the obvious advantages it provides in the performance of the radar system.
Separate antennas
Our radar system utilizes separate transmit and receive antennas.
This provides for a very high isolation between the transmitted and the received signal, which is not possible when utilizing a combined transmit and receive antenna.
Without this isolation, it becomes very difficult to detect weak return signals stemming from small targets. Both antennas are based on an innovative very low-loss slotted waveguide (SWG) array design with inherent beam steering capability and support of multiple beams.
Monopulse operation gives very high accuracy
The receive antenna facilitates advanced monopulse operation which enables the radar system to determine the position of a target with very high accuracy. The ability to operate with multiple beams means the radar system operates with a high field of view while still maintaining a very high resolution due to the narrow beamwidth of each individual beam.
These characteristics means the radar system can monitor a wide target area in scoring application and capture the impact position of bombs and projectiles accurately, even if they miss the target by a significant margin.
Our radar works in 3D
The high resolution antennas beams can be pointed in both elevation and azimuth, which means the radar can determine not only horizontal position but also the height of the target (3D location), which will be fundamental to the airport safety and wind energy applications.
It works even in 4D
The radar is able to transmit multiples waveforms and process the received signals in the doppler frequency spectrum. This means the radar is able to measure the speed of targets meaning the radar in total is a 4D radar.
This significantly increase the ability to distinguish target from objects which provides a radar return signal but are not target of interest. As an example our radar will have the ability to measure doppler frequency characteristics of a bird or a drone which will distinguish such targets from the return signals which can be received from stationary targets.