Legacy Products
MkIV Instrumentation Radar—The MkIV radar systems have been used in fixed installations and for mobile radar data collection field exercises. SPC owns several of these systems that can be leased for long- or short-term data collection exercises. Although no longer manufactured, re-furbished MkIV systems may be available for purchase. The MkIV system specifications are outlined in the table below. The MkIV data format can be processed using software packages available from ISAR, Inc and Compuquest.MkVe Specifications
| Performance Feature | MkVe Specification |
|---|---|
| Control Computer | Intel CPU or equivalent |
| Operating System | 2000, XP |
| Frequency Coverage | 0.1 - 18 GHz |
| Frequency Expansion | 26, 35, 95 GHz |
| Frequency Switching Time | 200 ns minimum |
| Frequency Table | 1,000,000 entries |
| Frequency Step-Chirp | Pulse-to-pulse, sequential or pseudorandom |
| Phase Code | Mono-, bi-, poly-phase, PN, and other low-sidelobe sequences |
| Waveform Flexibility | Randomized PRF, phase, frequency, pulsewidth, etc. |
| Antenna Polarization Ports | Linear and circular |
| Polarization | Full matrix pulse-to-pulse |
| Transmit Pulsewidth | 3.0 ns to 1.3 ms in 0.156-ns steps |
| Instantaneous RF Bandwidth | 700 MHz |
| Selectable Video Bandwidth | Up to 350 MHz |
| PRF/Sample Rates | Up to 5 MHz |
| Range Delay | 0 to 2000 ms in 0.156-ns steps |
| Range Sampling Jitter | 35 ps |
| ADC Quantization | 16 bits |
| Signal Integration | 1 to 1 million, fully variable |
| Dynamic Range | > 70 dB plus integration |
| I/Q Circularity | 0.015 dB rms real-time corrected |
| System Stability | ± 0.01 dB, ±1° (real-time corrected) |
| System Drift | Monitored and corrected (offline or real-time) |
| System Linearity | ± 0.2 dB (-12 to -82 dBsat); 1.0 dB overall |
| Online Diagnostics | Stability, statistics, loop tests, etc. |
| Built-in Test | RF and digital board level |
| Calibration | Automatic external reference and internal loop |
| Bias Subtraction | Bi-phase and poly-phase processing |
| Background Subtraction | -40 dB or better |
| Data Collection Rate | 100 Mbyte/s |
| Range gates | 1, 4, 8, or continuous; range gates may be moved dynamically |
| Range gate placements | Move range gates dynamically according to target sector |
| Real-time processing | SAR, ISAR, RCS, 1D transforms |
| Dynamic tracking | Monopulse, range, Doppler, angle |
| Pulsing modes | Single, double, triplets |
| Waveform interleaving | Single frequency, step-chirp, range walk. All can be stored. |
| Tx/Rx modes | Monostatic, co-located bistatic, separated bistatic |
| Phase codes | Up to 65536 arbitrary code sequence. Separate Tx and Rx, sequential, PRN, custom |
| Transmitter leveling | 64 levels, 1 dB resolution, programmable for each frequency entry |
| Raw data access port (non-integrated) |
Digitized separately at max rates determined by available ADCs and storage throughput |
| Remote control | Limited or full control via network and WiFi connections. PDA control and monitoring |
| System monitoring and logging | Subsystems monitored for thermal, voltage, and other variations. |
| Positioner control | Control and record any set of positioners for antennas and targets. |
| Motion measurement monitoring | Via inertial and GPS mechanisms |
| Auxiliary range sampling and recording |
> 200 MHz sample rates |
| Packaging | For fixed or mobile operations |
| Noise figure (at receiver input) | Typically 2.5 dB |
| Receive channels | 1,2,3 |
| Broadcast memory | Data sent to multiple processing points |
Available MkV Applications and Enhancements
| Radar Imaging: | SAR and ISAR with tomographic focusing |
| System Configurations: | Stationary, mobile, or airborne |
| Special Applications: | RF threat simulation |
| Display: | Multiple graphic presentations, TV Video |
| Dynamic Tracking: | Monopulse, range, Doppler, and angle |
| Antenna Positioners: | Pedestals, SAR rails |
| Target Positioners: | Heavy Duty and low profile rotators |
Portable SAR Image Processor—To support the X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) onboard the US Open Skies OC-135, SPC created the Portable SAR Image Processor.
Features
- SUNSPARCstation 20/61 based processor
- Data Input/Output (Ampex DCRSi, Metrum VLDS, Optical Disk, 4/8mm Tape, Hard Drive, CD-RW, DVD-RAM)
- Rapid throughput
- Output (hardcopy or disk)
- Image processing (automatic motion compensation; full image, full resolution; quick look processing, decimated resolution)
- Operator features (pan and zoom; pixel location)
- Integration with other sensors (on-screen maps; flightpath and swath width display; MTI radars; infrared; video
- Automatic resolution display (Gaussian function method; Fourier transform method)
- Software development (X-Windows, Motif, C, FORTRAN, WinNT)
- Other platforms available (Cray, HP, Silicon Graphics, PC)
- Certify and validate Open Skies SAR performance
- Provide 18.5-km swath with 3-meter resolution
- Portability
- User-friendly workstation environment including geolocation capability
Airborne Situational Awareness Tool—Situational awareness tools provide radar operators with knowledge of their surroundings, assisting them in making critical decisions during the course of measurements. In response to a customer's dilemma, SPC developed an Airborne Situational Awareness Tool for radar operators to keep track of aircraft orientation and provide effective real-time course corrections to aircraft pilots. This software tool is designed to maximize both ease-of-use and flexibility.
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- Display and storage of avionics data such as time, latitude, longitude, altitude, pitch, roll, and crab angle
- Graphical display of aircraft position and heading superimposed on an area map
- Display of target position on map, as well as global views for orbital targets
- Flexibility to use any map obtained from the web or other sources
- Tools for creating flightpath using waypoints
- Tools for exporting and displaying stored position and altitude data
- Timeline showing current time as well as mission elapsed time of major events
- Target location based on telemetry data (current configuration uses waypoints or trajectory file)
- Record observer-target geometry statistics including:
- Mission Planning Module
Versatile Inexpensive Pulsed Radar (VIPR)—SPC developed a low-cost, rapidly deployable PC-based control station for instrumentation radars. The VIPR provides pulse control, sampling, real-time processing, and display functions. Originally developed to observe atmospheric reentry, the VIPR is flexible enough to be useful for a variety of applications.
VIPR is comprised entirely of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and custom-built software contained in ruggedized, rack-mountable computer chassis. The system acts as a flexible, versatile, and compact back end, and, when configured with suitable transmitters, receivers, and antennas on the front end, functions as a substantially well-featured radar system. Continuous digital data storage is achieved by using SPC's accompanying Analog/Digital Data Recorder (ADDR). Click here to view features and specifications.