Detection of Aircraft Using Passive Radar

1
Detection of Aircraft Using Passive Radar

• Ali Athar
• Luis Cardona
• Thomas King
• Varun Prasad
• Rahul Sanon
• Blake Stewart
• Misam Taherbhai
• Sections L01, L02, L03
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• School of Electrical Computer Engineering
• Project Advisor Prof. Aaron Lanterman

2
Overview

• Covert detection of airborne objects
• System advantages
• System is concealed
• No transmitter required
• No frequency allocation
• Low power requirements
• System Users
• Air Traffic Controllers
• Military
• Total system cost 96,932

Airplane
Receiver
Transmitter
3
Design Objectives

• Detecting airplane at range of 15-20 miles
• Capturing reflected FM radio signals that have
  bounced off the airplane
• Data processing
• Filtering desired frequencies
• Amplifying as well as digitizing them
• Computing the signals with software
• Laying the foundation for further analysis

4
RF Front End
Figure taken from A. Lanterman, DURIP
Integrated Sensing and Computation for Passive
Covert Radar, Signals Intelligence, and Other
Applications Driven by Moores Law
5
Atlanta Area Transmitters
6
99.7MHz FM (100kW)
7
Periodic Antennas KMA4113
Antenna positioning
Log Periodic Antenna
8
D103J Discone Antenna
Spectrum Analysis
Amplitude (dB)
Frequency (Hz)
Discone Antenna
9
Antenna Specifications

• D130J Discone
• Diamond Antennas
• Omnidirectional
• Unity gain of 2dbi
• Exploration of beamforming techniques same as
  Lockheed Martins Silent Sentry 3 system

• KMA 4113
• Allow exploration of systems such as Paul
  Howlands demo system at NATO and Prof. Sahrs
  (UW) Manastash Ridge radar
• One pointed to get reflected path signal
• One copies the signal from exploited transmitter

10
Frequency Ranges
Antennas
Split
TV 50 950 MHz
FM 88 108 MHz
UHF 300 3K MHz
11
Gain Control Stage

• Maximize number of bits for A/D
• Use 8-bit programmable attenuators

SMA
Logic Adapter for TTL signals from I/O board
Attenuation range 0 16.5 dB (0.10.20.40.81
248 16.5)
12
Power Source

• Acopian power supply for 15V
• 12 Volt power supply for 12V

13
Equipment to be Powered

• Preamplifiers require 15V
• Oscillators require 12V
• Attenuators require 12V

14
Project Demonstration

• Acquiring and analyzing data
• Antennas
• Filters
• Attenuators and Amplifiers
• Spectrum Analyzer
• Ability to control equipment
• Presence of strong carrier and Doppler shifted
  tracks in data
• Cross correlation with Doppler data

15
Current Status Issues

• Antennas
• Two 12ft log-periodic constructed
• One discone antenna assembled
• Mounting logistics to be figured out
• Filters and Gain control
• Map I/O channels with TTL pins
• Determine the optimal filter configuration
• Organize equipment for interchangeability
• Lack of reliable drivers for A/D conversion

16
Completed Design Aspects
Legend
Completed
Data Acquisition
Post Data Acquisition
Figure taken from A. Lanterman, DURIP
Integrated Sensing and Computation for Passive
Covert Radar, Signals Intelligence, and Other
Applications Driven by Moores Law
17
Project Schedule

• Assembled discone antenna Oct 01
• Assembled Log-periodic Antennas Oct 18
• Mapped channel lines to TTL input Oct 21
• Connect log-periodic with filter and amps Nov 01
• Operation of one attenuator Nov 08
• Mount antennas and pass cable Nov
  10
• Reading data acquired by cards Dec 08
• Reliably detect aircraft Dec 12

18
Budget and Cost Analysis
19
Summary

• Status
• Antennas
• Power
• Attenuation and A/D conversion
• Software scripts
• Great platform
• Flexibility
• Research usage

December 12, 2013
ECE4007 L01, 02, 03 Fall 2008
19
20
Questions?