Integration and Miniaturization of a Ka-band Stepped Frequency Radar for Un-manned Aerial Vehicle Applications

Abstract In this paper, we present a highly integrated and miniaturized Ka-band stepped frequency radar that can be used for un-manned aerial vehicle applications. The microwave portion of the radar is integrated onto a low temperature co-fired ceramic multi-chip module, utilizing a triple-print gold thick-film metallization, allowing for wire-bonding and solder capabilities. In addition to miniaturization, a metal seal frame was designed to surround the individual microwave circuits providing isolation barriers to reduce electromagnetic coupling within the system and disturbances from outside interferers. The radar implementation is based on a previous Ka-band radar system designed at the University of Oklahoma using connectorized commercial-off-the-shelf components. This new design results in a 64 times size reduction in foot-print area, half the power consumption, and greater than a 10 times weight reduction compared to the previous implementation. To ensure desired system performance is maintained, both radars were subjected to a direct loop-back test and the intermediate frequency output spectrums, prior to base-band down-conversion, are recorded and compared. Both outputs contain a spectrally pure tone at 12.8 GHz near the expected power indicating that the new radar performs as intended and is comparable to its predecessor. The packaging techniques presented show extreme promise for system integration and miniaturization of future radar and communication systems following the trend to reduce size, weight, and power.