A Modular Side Looking Aiborne Radar to Fulfill a Multitude of Surveillance Missions

A side looking airborne radar is being modularly configured so that each user can procure only what is needed for his missions. The baseline system employs a 200 kw magnetron transmitter and an 8-foot antenna to provide a real aperture mode for ship detection and oil pollution surveillance. Other modules which can be easily added or substituted at any time include: (a) Moving target detection processor (b) Beacon mode processor (c) Synthetic aperture resolution improvement processor (d) 16-foot or 4-foot antennas. All processing, including the generation of an image on dry silver film, is in near real-time. The synthetic aperture processor utilizes: (a) an improved method of making the magnetron-based transmitter/receiver "coherent-on-receive"; and (b) sufficient azimuth filters to insure imaging of the sea surface and detection of targets whether stationary or moving.