Phased array radar cost reduction through the use of commercial RF systems on a chip

Phased array radar systems have not yet made the cost and performance breakthrough needed for fielding in the large numbers required to support air traffic control or distributed weather radar. While there has been significant cost reduction in the aperture, the cost of the RF components for beamforming and signal distribution are still prohibitive. Emerging commercial RF Systems on a Chip (RFSoC) have the potential to address these cost challenges while at the same time providing the ability to implement real-time digital signal processing algorithms not possible just a few years ago. Under the DARPA Arrays at Commercial Timescales (ACT) program and through internal funding we demonstrated the use of a prototype RFSoC as a software defined receiver and waveform generator along with real-time adaptive beamforming in an S-band phased array radar. The focus of the research has been to demonstrate the potential improvement for size weight and power (SWaP), real-time signal processing capacity and advanced design processes for rapid algorithm implementation. The pre-production RFSoC prototype demonstrates the potential value of RFSoC and rapid algorithm development for next generation radar systems.