24-10-2012, 01:55 PM
Hybrid Optical/Digital Processor for Radar Imaging
ABSTRACT
Essex is developing a prototype hybrid optical/digital processor for radar image formation using wideband arbitrary
waveforms. The processor is called the Advanced Optical Processor (AOP) and is a hybrid acousto-optic/digital processor that
generates high dynamic range, range-Doppler images from wideband radar returns. This work is being funded by the Missile
Defense Agency’s office of Manufacturability and Producibility (MDA/MP) and will be tested at the MIT/LL lexington
Development Facility. The processor supports high resolution processing necessary for target discrimination and kill
assessment by enabling the use of true arbitrary, wideband waveforms. The selected architecture combines the advantages of
both embedded optical signal processing for the front-end receiver and embedded high-speed digital signal processing for the
real-time post processing. This combination provides the capacity to process signals with 1 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth
in a real-time environment without the need for wideband analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). This is achieved in a compact
lightweight package that combines both an optical coherent channelizer and a WILDSTARIITM FPGA VME board from
Annapolis Micro Systems that performs the real-time post processing.
ABSTRACT
Essex is developing a prototype hybrid optical/digital processor for radar image formation using wideband arbitrary
waveforms. The processor is called the Advanced Optical Processor (AOP) and is a hybrid acousto-optic/digital processor that
generates high dynamic range, range-Doppler images from wideband radar returns. This work is being funded by the Missile
Defense Agency’s office of Manufacturability and Producibility (MDA/MP) and will be tested at the MIT/LL lexington
Development Facility. The processor supports high resolution processing necessary for target discrimination and kill
assessment by enabling the use of true arbitrary, wideband waveforms. The selected architecture combines the advantages of
both embedded optical signal processing for the front-end receiver and embedded high-speed digital signal processing for the
real-time post processing. This combination provides the capacity to process signals with 1 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth
in a real-time environment without the need for wideband analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). This is achieved in a compact
lightweight package that combines both an optical coherent channelizer and a WILDSTARIITM FPGA VME board from
Annapolis Micro Systems that performs the real-time post processing.