Patent ID: 6882311
Filing Date: 2005-04-19
Classification: H01Q

Abstract:
1. A digital beamforming radar system, which comprises: a receiver, the receiver including: a plurality of antenna elements, at least one of the plurality of antenna elements being adapted to receive a radar signal and output a received signal; a plurality of low-noise block converters, at least one of the plurality of low-noise block converters including an amplifier, a mixer, and a local oscillator input, the at least one of the plurality of low-noise block converters being responsive to the received signal from a corresponding antenna element, the at least one of the plurality of low-noise block converters outputting an intermediate frequency signal, the local oscillator input being adapted to enable a first local oscillator signal to be externally inputted to the at least one low-noise block converter, the mixer being responsive to the first local oscillator signal, at least one of the plurality of low-noise block converters comprising a commercially available low-noise block converter for use in satellite television systems, the commercially available low-noise block converter comprising an internal local oscillator circuit, the commercially available low-noise block converter being modified to provide the local oscillator input and to disable the internal local oscillator circuit; at least one analog-to-digital converter, the at least one analog-to-digital converter being responsive to the intermediate frequency signal of a corresponding low-noise block converter, the at least one analog-to-digital converter outputting a digital signal; and a processor responsive to the digital signal of the at least one analog-to-digital converter, the processor being adapted to perform digital beamforming algorithms on the digital signal to form a plurality of beams.