Multifunction Phased Array Radar (MPAR) Spectral Usage Analysis.

摘要

The multifunction phased array radar (MPAR) is a candidate solution to the Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA) Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Surveillance and Weather Radar Capability (NSWRC). As a concept under development, it has areas of technical risk that need to be explored and mitigated if possible. One such risk area is radio frequency (RF) spectral usage. Unlike traditional single-use ground-based radars that are used for civil-sector weather and aircraft surveillance, MPAR, by definition, will need to fulfill multiple missions at the same time. The RF spectral space is a degree of freedom that most likely will need to be exploited in order to meet all the observational objectives. This report describes the findings of a preliminary look into this topic. The risk manifests itself in two areas. First, if spectral occupancy per radar is, indeed, increased relative to the legacy radars, will the radars be able to operate without undue interference within the allocated band. Second, could self-interference limit the ability of the MPAR to fully exploit the spectral frequency space for accomplishing its missions. We tackled these questions by assuming a particular configuration for the MPAR, namely that it will have four antenna faces, and that there will be a full-size (8-m diameter antenna) version and a scaled down (4-m diameter antenna) version for terminal use (TMPAR). We also assumed that the new radars will be required to conform to the existing Radar Spectrum Engineering Criteria (RSEC), Group D, which applies to the 2.72.9 GHz band.