Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Building 44, Meiring Naude Road, Pretoria, South Africa; University of Pretoria, Carl and Emily Fuchs Institute for Microelectronics, Pretoria, South Africa
Olivier, K., Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Building 44, Meiring Naude Road, Pretoria, South Africa; Cilliers, J.E., Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Building 44, Meiring Naude Road, Pretoria, South Africa; Du Plessis, M., University of Pretoria, Carl and Emily Fuchs Institute for Microelectronics, Pretoria, South Africa
The test and evaluation of modern radars using hardware in the loop simulators requires the use of wideband high-fidelity, digital radio frequency memories (DRFM) in order to generate realistic target returns. Important aspects of wideband DRFM design on a printed circuit board are highighted and the architecture of the DRFM that was implemented using commercial-off-the-shelf components is presented. The spurious free dynamic range of the DRFM was characterised as -47dBc worst case over an instantaneous bandwidth of 800MHz. An experimental pulse-Doppler radar was used to compare the fidelity of the returns from the DRFM and an optical delay line. © 2011 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.
Commercial off-the-shelf components; Digital radio frequency memory; Hardware in the loop simulator; High fidelity; Instantaneous bandwidth; Optical delay lines; Pulse-Doppler radar; Spurious free dynamic range; Test and evaluation; Wide-band; Worst case; Digital radio; Doppler radar; Printed circuit boards; Printed circuit design