Sidelobe blanking characterizer system and method
First Claim
1. A method for providing effective adaptive sidelobe blanking for use in a platform mounted phase array radar system for detecting targets when interference occurs, the radar system including a main antenna channel and at least one auxiliary antenna channel for transmitting and receiving a main beam and sidelobe patterns from a main antenna and receiving an auxiliary antenna pattern from at least one auxiliary antenna, the main and auxiliary channel being coupled to a sidelobe blanking (SLB) circuit for blanking out interference and whose output couples to a radar data processor included in the system for processing the antenna patterns and producing data patterns and weighting factor sets and beam pointing direction signals and a beam steering generator coupled to the radar data processor for receiving the beam pointing direction signals, the method comprising:
- (a) including in the system, a characterizer component coupled to the radar data processor and to beam steering generator for providing sets of best weighting factors information as a function of main beam sidelobe distribution as inputs to the beam steering generator for generating antenna pattern sets for use by the system;
(b) the characterizer component generating a SLB characteristic map for each set of antenna patterns received from the radar processor;
(c) the characterizer component generating a (SLB) effectiveness chart from the SLB characteristic map;
(d) the characterizer component selecting a best antenna weighting set based on which auxiliary antenna pattern exhibits the best performance; and
,(e) the characterizer component applying the best weighting factors selected in step (d) as an updated input to the beam steering generator for generating the best antenna pattern set to provide an adaptive SLB capability in conjunction with the operation of the SLB circuit.
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Abstract
The method and system of the present invention includes a SLB characterizer component for achieving optimum sidelobe blanking through the combining of multiple dimension data into a single figure of merit comparison. The SLB characterizer component is positioned between a radar data processor and beam steering generator of a radar system. The radar data processor provides several sets of antenna patterns which are used by the characterizer component to compute gain margins according to the teachings of the present invention. From the computed gain margins, the component generates SLB characteristic maps which provide a much less complex method for evaluating antenna design independent of other system parameters. Based on such SLB characteristic maps, the characterizer component generates SLB effectiveness charts which it uses to compare SLB performance and determine which auxiliary antenna pattern has the best performance. This method is also applicable as a stand alone software tool for auxiliary antenna evaluation and comparison.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for providing effective adaptive sidelobe blanking for use in a platform mounted phase array radar system for detecting targets when interference occurs, the radar system including a main antenna channel and at least one auxiliary antenna channel for transmitting and receiving a main beam and sidelobe patterns from a main antenna and receiving an auxiliary antenna pattern from at least one auxiliary antenna, the main and auxiliary channel being coupled to a sidelobe blanking (SLB) circuit for blanking out interference and whose output couples to a radar data processor included in the system for processing the antenna patterns and producing data patterns and weighting factor sets and beam pointing direction signals and a beam steering generator coupled to the radar data processor for receiving the beam pointing direction signals, the method comprising:
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(a) including in the system, a characterizer component coupled to the radar data processor and to beam steering generator for providing sets of best weighting factors information as a function of main beam sidelobe distribution as inputs to the beam steering generator for generating antenna pattern sets for use by the system; (b) the characterizer component generating a SLB characteristic map for each set of antenna patterns received from the radar processor; (c) the characterizer component generating a (SLB) effectiveness chart from the SLB characteristic map; (d) the characterizer component selecting a best antenna weighting set based on which auxiliary antenna pattern exhibits the best performance; and
,(e) the characterizer component applying the best weighting factors selected in step (d) as an updated input to the beam steering generator for generating the best antenna pattern set to provide an adaptive SLB capability in conjunction with the operation of the SLB circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for evaluating different antenna designs relative to determining which design provides superior sidelobe blanking characteristics for operation within a platform mounted phase array radar system for detecting targets when interference occurs, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving different sets of antenna patterns representative of the different antenna designs from a corresponding number of data sources; (b) applying the different sets of antenna patterns received in step (a) to a characterizer component for generating a SLB characteristic map for each set of antenna patterns received; (c) generating a (SLB) effectiveness chart from the SLB characteristic map; (d) selecting a best antenna weighting set based on which auxiliary antenna pattern exhibits the best performance; and
,(e) using the selected best of antenna weighting factors for designating the antenna design having superior SLB performance characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20)
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18. The method of 17 wherein step (c) (4) comprises the steps of:
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(1) first determining when the total areas differ by less than a pre-established value; (2) when the result of step (c) (4)(1) indicates that the total area values do not differ by the pre-established value, select the better of the two sets based on which of the averaged values for the two sets has the lower value based on being further away from the main beam and indicative of better SLB circuit performance.
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21. A characterizer component for providing effective adaptive sidelobe blanking for use in a platform mounted phase array radar system for detecting targets when interference occurs, the radar system including a main antenna channel and at least one auxiliary antenna channel for transmitting and receiving a main beam and sidelobe patterns from a main antenna and receiving an auxiliary antenna pattern from at least one auxiliary antenna, the main and auxiliary channel being coupled to a sidelobe blanking (SLB) circuit for blanking out interference and whose output couples to a radar data processor included in the system for processing the antenna patterns and producing data patterns and weighting factor sets and beam pointing direction signals, and a beam steering generator coupled to the radar data processor for receiving the beam pointing direction signals, the characterizer component being coupled to the radar data processor and to beam steering generator and comprising:
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(a) a first module for generating a SLB characteristic map for each set of antenna patterns received from the radar processor; (b) a second module for generating a (SLB) effectiveness chart from the SLB characteristic map received from the first module; (c) a third module for selecting a best antenna weighting set based on which auxiliary antenna pattern exhibits the best performance; and
,(d) a fourth module for applying the best weighting factors selected by the third module as an updated input to the beam steering generator for generating the best antenna pattern set to provide an adaptive SLB capability in conjunction with the operation of the SLB circuit.
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Specification