High power microwave generation with pulse compression

Abstract

Chirped pulse compression is achieved in transmit modes with wideband antennas, such as log periodic dipole arrays (LPDA), where the matched filters are the antennas. In this paper, a modulation technique is described which compresses ultra wideband (UWB) signals on conventional LPDAs. In transmit modes, high power microwaves (HPM) applications are found with wideband transmitting antennas, such as LPDA, where the matched filters are the antennas. The strong phase dispersion usually encountered with LPDAs creates substantial distortion in the shape of wideband signals or pulses. This distortion is greatly reduced with either a change in the FM from linear to exponential or with a modification in the log periodicity of the array elements to a linear periodicity.