Researchers from NRL's Radar
Division and
Electronics Science and Technology Division have
developed the
WARLOC radar system. WARLOC, a high-power, coherent
W-Band
Advanced Radar, is the world's highest power 94 GHz radar
system. The demonstration took place at NRL's Chesapeake Bay
Detachment, where the radar is currently installed. Dr. Robert
LeFande, associate director of research for the Systems Directorate,
and Dr. Bhakta Rath, associate director of research for the
Materials
Science and Component Technology Directorate,
attended the demonstration.
The WARLOC radar first
operated on November 21, 2001 from NRL's
Chesapeake Bay
Detachment. Earlier attempts to develop coherent
radars at
W-band have been severely limited in their performance
because
of limitations in power amplifier technology and the
lack of
suitable microwave components. The NRL team overcame
the
shortcoming in power amplifier capability through the development
of novel gyro-klystron amplifier technology. In a multi-year
effort, the NRL team performed theoretical analysis, pilot designs,
and prototype experiments on gyro-klystrons. The NRL efforts
eventually led to the development of a high-average-power proto-type
of the gyro-klystron amplifier in a collaborative project with
US industry at (Communications and Power Industries (CPI) and
Litton Industries) and with the University of Maryland. A world
record for coherent amplifier performance at 94 GHz was achieved
in June 2000, with the demonstration of 100 kW peak power, 10kW
average power, and greater than 600 MHz bandwith.
The NRL team's goal for the WARLOC
radar program was to develop an advanced coherent mobile radar
system, which can be used to demonstrate important Navy applications
of millimeter wave radar. Future applications include
non-cooperative
target recognition, target imaging based on
inverse synthetic
aperture radar techniques, missile test range
instrumentation,
electronic protection radar adjunct, detection
of low cross section
threats, and very accurate tracking close
to the sea surface.
The NRL team also plans a research effort
in propagation and
backscatter phenomenology at 94 GHz. This
effort includes a joint
research program with NRL's Remote
Sensing Division and Plasma
Physics Division to achieve new
advances in cloud research.
The principal researchers for
this joint project
are Dr. Vilhelm Gregers-Hansen and Mr. George
J. Linde from the
Radar Division and Dr. Bruce G. Danly, from
the Electronics
Science and Technology Division.
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