Integrated X Band Active Phased Array Radar for Maritime Surveillance

Abstract

Airborne maritime surveillance plays an important role in safeguarding the coastline and exclusive economic zones. A multi-functional Maritime Patrol Radar (MPR), which can provide 360 degree azimuth coverage and operate in various modes like sea surface surveillance, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Inverse SAR (ISAR), Search-and-Rescue, Weather etc., is crucial for providing an effective maritime situational awareness. The performance of such systems are usually limited by sea clutter and aperture constraints imposed by the aircraft. Unlike the older generation mechanical radar, MPR based on Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) can overcome these limitations with its capability in instantaneous beam steering, spacetime agility etc. This paper performs an extensive simulation study on sea-clutter, derives the optimal system parameters and defines a prototype Integrated X-band Active Phased Array Radar (IXAPAR). Each building block of IXAPAR has been designed using state-of-the-art technology. Finally, we report the performance results of the IXAPAR including opportune target detection, with various advanced digital domain processing like Extended Target CA-CFAR, digital monopulsing, simultaneous multi-direction looks using digital beamforming and jammer cancellation. The prototype IXAPAR can be easily scaled up based on various airborne and ground based applications.