Ian Beavers

Articles 1 - 2

Radar/EW

SOSA approach’s impact on electronic warfare solutions - Story

October 10, 2024

The Sensor Open Systems Architecture, or SOSA, Technical Standard has made deployment of new electronic warfare (EW) solutions faster and more modular now that a standardized chassis hardware framework has been established. No longer will the entire EW system need to be captive to a single supplier. The latest technology can now be released into the field without the need for new program specifications. EW integrators and their suppliers can focus on their specific area of expertise among the major system component blocks: radio-frequency (RF) front end, digital processing, and algorithms. Platform re-use can be accomplished with one or more of these three major components upgraded to a new solution. Integrators can now provide focused refresh upgrades in a more timely fashion based on the advancements in just one of these areas, without waiting for a revision through an entirely new program.

Radar/EW

Bandwidth is king in aerospace and defense applications - Story

January 29, 2016

Ian Beavers Analog Devices

Wider frequency communication bands require not only a larger observed bandwidth from a system analog-to-digital converter (ADC), but can also push the need for a higher full-power bandwidth. In some applications, such as electronic warfare (EW) and active phased-array radar, this can require the use of a higher order Nyquist rate band. Next-generation gigasamples per second (GSPS) ADCs allow GHz sampling well into the 3rd and 4th Nyquist band with decimation options to get the dynamic range benefits of oversampling. If an ADC's input bandwidth is high enough, it is possible to downconvert directly in the ADC by undersampling the infrared (IF) signal of interest. Higher-bandwidth input signals and sample rates enable direct RF sampling of wider band signals and possible reduction of an entire stage in a signal chain for lower system power and simplicity.

Articles 1 - 2