Software-defined system integrated communications based on active phased array radar

We have designed, simulated, fabricated and tested a software-defined system integrated communication function on active phased array radar. The radar and communication function are separated by time division considering the condition of the practical hardware platform which will not affect the radar performance. Radar is working in radar mode or communication mode for different demands. A message structure is fabricated in order to verify the feasibility of the proposed system. The communications-receiver on the radar platform was evaluated by simulation. The measured bit error rate at 3Mb/s is less than 1e-6. When the system is working on the ad hoc network, the speed of file transmission between radar and communication end machine is 84kbit/s, while the speed with one hop is 36kbit/s, which is close to the theoretical value. The presented system is promising as a multifunctional software-defined sensor for radar network applications.