TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Sensors, Electronics, Battlespace

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA-265 - F-18 Super Hornet Strike Fighter; ACAT I; PMA-290

OBJECTIVE: Develop technology to automatically and non-invasively extract performance parameters and characterize subsystem components of transmitters and receivers while minimizing human interaction in order to greatly reduce the amount of time necessary to develop analytic models for electromagnetic interference and electronic attack applications.

DESCRIPTION: An increasing number of RF (radio frequency) systems are being installed on Navy aircraft for a variety of applications (e.g., communications, electronic attack, radar, and navigation). A single RF system can operate across literally thousands of channels employing a variety of modulation schemes and modalities. Additionally, a wide variety of architectures are employed in military systems — ranging from traditional super-heterodyne to double up-conversion and direct conversion.

Analysis tools exist that predict electromagnetic interference (EMI) between RF systems and vulnerabilities of such systems to electronic warfare (EW). However, these tools rely upon the user to provide either circuit level models or measured/engineering data as input for the particular RF system and subsystem components. Often, an analyst needs to perform both fast, high-level simulations as well as longer, detailed simulations for a single RF system -- depending upon the amount of time available for the simulation and the fidelity of the results required. Vendors typically do not provide detailed circuit models or measured data for characterizing RF system performance. As a result, analysts often must use engineering judgment to develop their own models or perform system level measurements. Performing measurements for both transmitters and receivers is a process that requires an in depth knowledge of RF system architectures and measurement techniques. Manually performing measurements for the various channels and operating modes for a single RF system can take an exorbitant amount of time.

Automated measurement techniques for extracting RF system performance characteristics at both low- and high-fidelity are needed. For low-fidelity models, the power spectrum (emitters) and receiver sensitivity (receivers) should be characterized through measurements. For high-fidelity models, measurements should provide data sufficient to reverse engineer RF system architectures such that circuit level models can be reconstructed.

PHASE I: Develop a detailed description of the techniques required to characterize both transmitters and receivers through measurement techniques. These techniques should address both low-fidelity and high-fidelity models suitable for frequency-domain and time-domain analysis codes. Additionally, the techniques should be applicable to characterizing all RF system architectures employed by the Navy. Perform manual testing of sample RF systems to validate proposed techniques. Develop plans for automating measurement techniques through custom software and hardware to be implemented during the Phase II effort.

PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate the automated measurement techniques using custom software and hardware to be delivered to the Navy. The automated measurement system should include a user interface for setting up a data collection (e.g., type of measurement, background information for the RF system under test, etc.) as well as providing feedback to the user as the test is being conducted (e.g., warning messages if the user has specified an erroneous test setting). Perform extensive testing of the measurement system including testing on canonical circuits representing typical RF system architectures.

PHASE III: Develop and transition an application suitable for use in evaluating a wide variety of commercial and military systems.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The technology developed under this topic has direct utility to a wide variety of commercial and military electronic EMC and EMI problems.

REFERENCES:
1. R. Turlington, Behavioral modeling of nonlinear RF and microwave devices, Artech House Publishers, 1999.

2. P. Crama and J. Schoukens, "Wiener-Hammerstein system estimator initialisation using a random multisine excitation," 58th Automated RF Techniques Group Conf. Digest, Nov. 2001.

3. H. Ku, M. D. McKinley, J. S. Kenney, "Extraction of accurate behavioral models for power amplifiers with memory effects using two-tone measurements," 2002 IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Symposium Digest, vol. 1, pp. 139-142, June 2002.

KEYWORDS: Automated measurements; transmitter; receiver; RF performance; electronic survivability; electromagnetic interference.

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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