Patent ID: 11953617
Assignee: ROCKWELL COLLINS, INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 14:
15. A method for multi-panel multi-function radar operation, comprising:
receiving a first radar command from a first system onboard an aircraft, the first system associated with a plurality of individual active electronically scanned arrays (AESAs) each mounted at an individual fixed azimuth onboard the aircraft, the first radar command includes a first aperture beam characteristic, a first azimuth, and a first elevation associated with a first aperture beam;
receiving a second radar command from at least one second system onboard the aircraft, the second radar command associated with the plurality of individual AESAs and includes a second aperture beam characteristic, a second azimuth, and a second elevation associated with at least one second aperture beam;
receiving an aircraft state data from at least one aircraft state data sensor;
determining a radar function hierarchy based on the aircraft state data;
designating at least one of the plurality of individual AESAs to carry out the first radar command and the second radar command based on the radar function hierarchy and the individual fixed azimuth;
in response to the first radar command and the second radar command, segmenting the designated at least one AESA into at least two subarrays based on the radar function hierarchy of radar function, to transmit and receive the first aperture beam and the at least one second aperture beam, the first aperture beam having the first aperture beam characteristic based on the first radar command and the at least one second aperture beam having the second aperture beam characteristic based on the second radar command;
transmitting and steering the first aperture beam based on the first radar command and the at least one second aperture beam based on the second radar command from the designated at least one AESA;
receiving a first radar return from the first aperture beam and at least one second radar return from the at least one second aperture beam;
digitally combining the first radar return and the at least one second radar return via a digital signal processing and creating a first specific radar dataset associated with the first system and a second specific radar dataset associated with the at least one second system;
supplying the first system with the first specific radar dataset associated with the first system and the at least one second system with the second specific radar dataset associated with the at least one second system; and
executing a system function of the first system based on the first specific radar dataset associated with the first system and the system function of the at least one second system based on the second specific radar dataset associated with the at least one second system.