Georgia Tech Gets NASA Contract to Develop SiGe-based Phased Array Radar
Source/Type: News - Staff reports

Author: CompoundSemi News Staff

March 8, 2010... The Georgia Institute of Technology was awarded a $2.4 million contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop a new radar system, according to an article from Georgia Tech. The radar system will study and map ice and snow formations from the air. The phased-array radar will use silicon-germanium (SiGe) chips in combination with radio-frequency micro-electromechanical systems (RF MEMS). The light weight systems could be placed on aircraft or satellites.

Previously, such mapping required heavy radar equipment that required surface operation, according to John Papapolymerou, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and principal investigator on the project. The system would allow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to gather information by flying over a large area such as Greenland, using the radar system to map ice sheets in three dimensions. While conventional radar requires a mechanical repositioning of an antenna, the new system would use phase shifting to electronically steer the signal beam. An 8 by 8 grid of fixed, interconnected antenna elements send and receive multiple radar signals virtually simultaneously.

Cressler,a Ken Byers Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said,"Using silicon-germanium allows much higher levels of integration, which older radar systems don’t give you," He added, "It enables you to go from a system which is much larger and more expensive, and less robust, to a chip that is only a few millimeters on a side and costs far less."

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