SPYDAR-8 - SV's Recent Phased Array Radar Activity
At this year’s SV Sales Meeting our team was determined to iterate on SARizard, our previous radar design activity. Where that project used DIY cantennas and a soundcard to process the data, this time we utilized Analog Device’s CN0566 Phaser kit. The Phaser operates at 10 GHz and has 8 elements in a horizontal phased array.
Using our access to high quality coaxial cable assemblies, we were able to upgrade the feedline with a low loss cable, significantly reducing the insertion loss between the output from the radar and the antenna.
Fig.1 Feedline Insertion Loss, showing improvement
The stock antenna that shipped with the radar was also promptly discarded in favor of a higher-gain horn antenna that we designed in-house and machined in our model shop.
Supplied Antenna
Custom Horn Antenna
Our last hardware modification was to add an amplifier to further increase our power output, this was placed right before the antenna.
The SARizard project was limited by its single Rx antenna element, the end result (though impressive) was just a simple range over time plot. With the 8 Rx elements of the Phaser, we are able to do angle of arrival calculations and produce a real time range-azimuth plot.
This allowed us to visualize the location of targets in front of the radar. At our Sales Meeting, those “targets” weren’t just any objects — they were our own sales representatives! As they moved in front of the phased array radar system, the heat map clearly highlighted their positions.
In addition to the radar demonstration, we also assembled “ray guns” that were designed to interfere with the radar’s signal. These kits were filled with some of SV’s latest technology like our new 30° surface mounts, BMB interconnects, and ConvergeRF cable assemblies. The housings were 3D printed and the horn antennas were also 3D printed and wrapped in aluminum tape.
Ray Gun
This activity was a lot of fun to put together and an opportunity to learn more about the end use of many of our products as well as learn more about radar theory. Many thanks to Jon Kraft at Analog Devices for his YouTube series using the phaser as well as helping us with some troubleshooting.
Activity Organizers Senior Development Engineer James Merryman and Director of Engineering Domenic LoPresti
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SPYDAR-8 - SV's Recent Phased Array Radar Activity
At this year’s SV Sales Meeting our team was determined to iterate on SARizard, our previous radar design activity. Where that project used DIY cantennas and a soundcard to process the data, this time we utilized Analog Device’s CN0566 Phaser kit. The Phaser operates at 10 GHz and has 8 elements in a horizontal phased array.
Using our access to high quality coaxial cable assemblies, we were able to upgrade the feedline with a low loss cable, significantly reducing the insertion loss between the output from the radar and the antenna.
Fig.1 Feedline Insertion Loss, showing improvement
The stock antenna that shipped with the radar was also promptly discarded in favor of a higher-gain horn antenna that we designed in-house and machined in our model shop.
Supplied Antenna
Custom Horn Antenna
Our last hardware modification was to add an amplifier to further increase our power output, this was placed right before the antenna.
The SARizard project was limited by its single Rx antenna element, the end result (though impressive) was just a simple range over time plot. With the 8 Rx elements of the Phaser, we are able to do angle of arrival calculations and produce a real time range-azimuth plot.
This allowed us to visualize the location of targets in front of the radar. At our Sales Meeting, those “targets” weren’t just any objects — they were our own sales representatives! As they moved in front of the phased array radar system, the heat map clearly highlighted their positions.
In addition to the radar demonstration, we also assembled “ray guns” that were designed to interfere with the radar’s signal. These kits were filled with some of SV’s latest technology like our new 30° surface mounts, BMB interconnects, and ConvergeRF cable assemblies. The housings were 3D printed and the horn antennas were also 3D printed and wrapped in aluminum tape.
Ray Gun
This activity was a lot of fun to put together and an opportunity to learn more about the end use of many of our products as well as learn more about radar theory. Many thanks to Jon Kraft at Analog Devices for his YouTube series using the phaser as well as helping us with some troubleshooting.
Activity Organizers Senior Development Engineer James Merryman and Director of Engineering Domenic LoPresti