Comparison of analog IFM and digital frequency measurement receivers for electronic warfare

Measurement of the incoming signal's frequency is one of the most important topics of an EW receiving system. The continuous performance and reliability improvement of Analog to Digital Converters and FPGA pushed the operation frequency of these devices up to tens of GHz, thus making possible the design of quasi-full digital wideband EW receiving systems. In this paper a comparison between a traditional analog microwave IFM receiver and a modern digital frequency measurement receiver is carried out, dealing with architectural, technological and performance differences, enhancement capabilities and lifetime.