Next-Generation W-Band Radar Testbed

This paper presents a 94 GHz (W-band) FMCW radar system under development for airborne situational awareness. Military CONOPS require pilots of both fixed and rotary winged aircraft to land at remote sites in degraded visibility or brownout conditions due either to the weather (such a fog, rain, snow, blowing sand) or by prop or rotor wash. Quite obviously, man made obstacles such as poles and wires within the flight path hinder operations and rocks, berms, obstacles and uneven terrain make last second landing decisions mandatory. To be able to resolve these small targets and obstacles, the bandwidth of the linear FM sweep must be large since target resolution is proportional to the inverse of the frequency deviation. The purpose of this on-going program is to demonstrate highly linear wide-bandwidth W-band FMCW radar designed utilizing COTS components. We have completed the first phase of a technology demonstration and we are currently developing an advanced testbed for detecting these obstacles.