Synchronized and Programmable X-Band Exciter with Low SWaP Solution for Radar Application

This paper presents the architecture of an X-Band Exciter designed for a synchronized and programmable pulse Doppler Radar. The Exciter plays an important role in the performance of the Radar by generating fast settling RF signals with low phase noise and spurious which has a direct impact to the system performance. Low phase noise signals can distinguish weak targets even in noisy environment and measure Doppler signals accurately. Also it needs to be programmable to change frequencies at a fast rate to capture Doppler shifts caused by different types of weather targets. Phase Locked Loop (PLL) and DDS (Direct Digital Synthesizer) based architecture is used to achieve a fast settling and low phase noise RF signal with fine frequency resolution. Unlike conventional methods, critical functions which are divided as per frequency plan are implemented with minimum number of PCB's which results in less complexity, lesser Size, Weight, Power and Cost (SWaP-C) module. The module is realized and qualified to meet the performance under all weather conditions.