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An Integrated Radar Tile for Digital Beamforming X-/Ka-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar Instruments

Arnieri, E., Boccia, L., Amendola, G., Glisic, S., Mao, Chun-Xu, Gao, Steven, Rommel, T., Penkala, P., Krstic, M., Yodprasit, U., and others. (2019) An Integrated Radar Tile for Digital Beamforming X-/Ka-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar Instruments. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 67 (3). pp. 1197-1206. ISSN 0018-9480. (doi:10.1109/TMTT.2018.2889038) (KAR id:74048)

Abstract

This paper presents the first experimental assessment of a highly integrated dual-band dual-polarized antenna tile designed for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) digital beamforming (DBF) satellite applications. The demonstrator described in this paper is the first comprehensive experimental validation of an RF module providing the X-band and Ka-band (9.6- and 35.75-GHz) operation with custom downconversion stages. All the antennas, transitions, and downconversion chips are integrated in the same antenna tile fabricated using a customized 15-layer high density interconnect process. The designed tile goes to the limits of the proposed technology and for the high trace density and for the size of the vertical transitions. The proposed results represent the state of the art in terms of compactness for a DBF SAR RF module even though the demonstrator was manufactured with a standard low-cost technology. The experimental assessment proves the validity of the proposed manufacturing and integration approaches showing a substantial agreement between the performance of the individual blocks and of the integrated system.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1109/TMTT.2018.2889038
Uncontrolled keywords: radar antennas; radar signal processing; synthetic aperture radar; comprehensive experimental validation; X-band;custom downconversion stages; downconversion chips; 15-layer high density interconnect process; high trace density; DBF SAR RF module; demonstrator; experimental assessment; manufacturing; integration approaches; integrated system; integrated radar tile; Digital Beamforming X-/Ka-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar Instruments; dual-band dual-polarized antenna tile; synthetic aperture radar digital beamforming satellite applications; Synthetic aperture radar; Antennas; Spaceborne radar; Instruments; Radio frequency; Microwave theory and techniques; Antenna; digital beamforming (DBF); integrated systems; radar; small satellite; synthetic aperture
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences > School of Engineering and Digital Arts
Depositing User: Steven Gao
Date Deposited: 22 May 2019 09:56 UTC
Last Modified: 10 Dec 2022 12:51 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/74048 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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