A ground-based radar system for weather sensing and aircraft tracking includes a ground-based radar that is configured to scan a volume of space associated with a particular aircraft for detecting a weather event in the volume of space, and an electronic control system that is configured to control the ground-based radar. The control system is adapted to track the particular aircraft via tracking data associated with the particular aircraft, and is adapted to detect the weather event via weather data associated with signals from the ground-based radar. The control system is configured to control the ground-based radar to adjust the scan of the volume of space in response to at least the tracking data associated with the particular aircraft being tracked. A geographically diverse radar network that includes multiple ground-based radar systems that communicate with each other also is provided.

A radar apparatus with a transmission antenna array that outputs a high aspect ratio frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) transmission beam that illuminates a large field of regard in elevation and may be both electronically and mechanically scanned in azimuth. The weather radar apparatus includes a receive array and receive electronics that may receive the reflected return radar signals and digitally form a plurality of receive beams that may be used to determine characteristics of the area in the field of regard. The receive beams may be used to determine reflectivity of weather systems and provide a coherent weather picture. The weather radar apparatus may simultaneously process the receive signals into monopulse beams that may be used for accurate navigation as well as collision avoidance.

The target information detection system according to the present invention includes a measurement-side speed detection device for detecting the speed of a measurement-side moving body as a moving body speed, and a target-side speed detection device for detecting the speed of a target as a target speed, and when it is determined from a Doppler frequency that the relative speed of the measurement-side moving body and the target is equal to or less than a mode switching speed set in advance, a target information detection device switches a target information detection mode from a Doppler mode to a communication mode, acquires a moving-body speed via the measurement-side speed detection device and acquires a target speed via the target-side speed detection device, and calculates target information using the moving-body speed and the target speed.

A tracking device estimates a track for at least one possible target and is configured to receive incoming measurements and process measurements and tracks. The device has a storage device and a computational device and an association module to calculate an association between a measurement and a track. The device further has an output module to output a sequence of track updates from an assignment module maintaining a set of active tracks using the association module as a function of active tracks and the incoming measurements to calculate associations, containing possible track updates and deciding which track updates to keep in the active tracks set and which to add to a passive tracks set. Computations on the passive tracks may be deferred until at least one passive track handling criterion is fulfilled. The computational device may activate and transfer a passive track from the passive set to the active set.

A reconfigurable radar unit is described that includes: a millimetre wave (mmW) transceiver (Tx/Rx) circuit; a mixed analog and baseband integrated circuit; and a signal processor circuit. The mmW Tx/Rx circuit and mixed analog and baseband integrated circuit and signal processor circuit are configured to support a plurality of radar operational modes. a radar sensitivity monitor and architecture reconfiguration control unit (260) is coupled to the signal processor circuit and is configured to monitor a radar performance and, in response thereto, initiate a change in the radar operational mode. In this manner, a large number of radar operational modes is supported and can be dynamically adopted by the reconfigurable radar unit dependent upon any prevailing radar performance condition.

A system and methodologies for radar target detection for air surveillance and weather surveillance radar. Embodiments enable the ability to combine radar target detection and tracking with weather surveillance in a single polarimetric Phased Array Radar (PAR) system. Structure and software are provided for performing polarization in a non-orthogonal manner when steering an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar off its principal planes.

A radar apparatus with a transmission antenna array that outputs a high aspect ratio frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) transmission beam that illuminates a large field of regard in elevation and may be both electronically and mechanically scanned in azimuth. The weather radar apparatus includes a receive array and receive electronics that may receive the reflected return radar signals and digitally form a plurality of receive beams that may be used to determine characteristics of the area in the field of regard. The receive beams may be used to determine reflectivity of weather systems and provide a coherent weather picture. The weather radar apparatus may simultaneously process the receive signals into monopulse beams that may be used for accurate navigation as well as collision avoidance.

System and method of configuring an external radar device through high speed reverse data transmission. In one embodiment, the system includes a radar data processing module for processing radar data received from the external radar device, and a radar configuration management module for generating control data for controlling the external radar device. The system further includes a configurable half-duplex interface, wherein the configurable half-duplex interface, in response to receiving a turnaround command, switches between (1) a configuration for transmitting control data packets to the external radar device via a communication link, and (2) a configuration for receiving radar data packets from the external radar device via the communication link. A receive controller is provided and is configured to receive radar data packets from the external radar device via the communication link and the configurable half-duplex interface, wherein the receive controller is configured to extract radar data from the radar packets for subsequent processing by the radar data processing module. A transmit controller is provided and configured to receive control data from the radar configuration management module, wherein the transmit controller is configured to generate radar control packets comprising the radar control data, and wherein the transmit controller is configured to transmit the radar control packets to the external radar device via the communication link and the configurable half-duplex interface when configured for transmitting data.

Techniques that facilitate reconfigurable transmission of a radar frequency signal are provided. In one example, a system includes a signal generator and a power modulator. The signal generator provides a radar waveform signal from a set of radar waveform signals. The power modulator divides a local oscillator signal associated with a first frequency and a first amplitude into a first local oscillator signal and a second local oscillator signal. The power modulator also generates a radio frequency signal associated with a second frequency and a second amplitude based on the radar waveform signal, the first local oscillator signal and the second local oscillator signal.

A method for confusing the electronic signature of a signal transmitted by a radar, includes the generation by the radar of at least one pulse, wherein the method comprises a step of modulation, in the pulse, of the polarization of the transmitted signal, according to two orthogonal or opposite polarizations, the modulation of the polarization being performed according to a predetermined modulation code.