Content area
Full Text
OPERATING IN A COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT
The latest generations of radar and EW systems operate in a variety of frequency bands and use wideband or UWB signals that carry highly complex modulation schemes. These systems also use advanced DSP techniques to mask or disguise their operation and thereby avoid jamming.
Within the operating environment the complexities may include multiple targets, ground clutter, sea clutter, jamming, interference, wireless communication signals and other forms of electromagnetic noise. Depending on the type of radar or EW system, the test platform must be capable of producing a variety of signals: pulse Doppler, wideband, UW and beyond.
In the field, radar and electronic warfare (EW) systems face an environment filled with known and unknown signals: target returns, clutter, jamming, interference and electromagnetic noise. During design and development it has been difficult and costly to simulate realistic scenarios that thoroughly exercise system performance.
Today, a combination of COTS instrumentation and electronic design automation (EDA) software is making it easier to create scenarios such as multi-target returns in a complex electromagnetic environment. The software provides an environment for electronic svstemlevel (ESL) design and includes a library of radar models. The key instruments are arbitrary waveform generators (AWG) and vector signal generators (VSG).
Complex baseband signals or sequences are created in the ESL environment and downloaded into the memory of an AWG capable of producing modulated carrier signals. If a wideband AWG is used, it can drive the I/Q inputs of a VSG to produce wideband or ultra-wideband (UWB) scenarios.
This synergistic combination of hardware and software provides a platform that can be used for component testing and scenario simulation for system test. The addition of...