Patent ID: 8184037

Claim:
A radar subsystem for an aircraft for detecting another airborne object within a region surrounding the aircraft, the subsystem comprising: at least one transmitter for transmitting an electromagnetic probe signal; a phased array of receivers for simultaneously receiving reflections of the probe signal transmitted by the at least one transmitter and for generating receiving signals which each represent a received reflection of the probe signal; and a signal processing unit for processing each of the receiving signals, the signal processing unit operatively coupled to the phased array of receivers for obtaining information about a detected airborne object within the region surrounding the aircraft, the probe signal configured to cover a zone of interest, the zone of interest being static with respect to the aircraft, the information about the detected airborne object including whether the an airborne object is in the zone of interest, the signal processing unit configured to determine a direction relative to the aircraft, from which the received reflection originates, while the receivers and/or the signal processing unit refrain from scanning the zone of interest so that the zone of interest is observed as a whole, the signal processing unit configured to perform a Fast Fourier Transform on the receiving signals for forming digital multiple beams, wherein in a first mode the probe signal having a constant frequency and in a second mode the probe signal having a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave.