Ultra-Wideband Chirp Fourier Transform Processor

A Chirp Fourier Transform (CFT) processor is described which establishes new performance levels for wideband signal processing. The CFT module accepts analog signals in an 80 MHz bandwidth over a 10 microsecond input observation frame, computes the Fourier transform and outputs the baseband spectra in 12-bit digital I, Q format to a Frequency Domain Processor (FDP); processing rate is equivalent to 400 MCOPS. This module, offering a marriage of state-of-the-art analog and digital circuit techniques, removes the oven requirement for temperature stabilization of LiNbO
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SAW devices, while matching their wideband performance with the latest advances in digital signal processing devices. Applications include communications equipment such as JTIDS, Ref. 1, EW and radar systems.