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Antennas and Propagation Society [AP003]
June 10 meeting Rescheduled from May 15
Refreshments 5:30 PM, Talk 6:00 PM, Thursday, 1 May
Lincoln Laboratory Compact Range
Mike Shields, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
In 2000, Lincoln Laboratory began the process of replacing their large outdoor range facility with a set of new, indoor chambers. Known and potential users of antenna and RCS measurements were surveyed and the derived needs were translated into requirements for procurement. Four chambers were defined and eventually constructed; a tapered chamber for VHF through S-Band (250MHz – 4 GHz), a small, far-field range for mm-wavelengths (4 – 100GHz), a large, Compact Range for 0.4-100GHz and an absorber-lined (150 MHz-20 GHz), versatile test chamber for evaluating radar or communication systems connected to an antenna. The Compact Range and its instrumentation system, was designed by the ElectroScience Laboratory (ESL) at the Ohio State University. The reflector is 24 foot square and has a “rolled-edge” design which gradually departs from a central paraboloid to minimize the ripples in the quiet zone field. This design was manufactured by MI-Technologies and installed in the chamber in late 2004. The center 12-foot parabolic section was hand sanded to achieve a 0.0014” rms surface.
In 2006, an instrumentation system, capable of making antenna and RCS measurements in the frequency range from 400MHz to 100 GHz was completed and installed by members of the ElectroScience Laboratory. This system and its operating software are a new design for ESL and some of the features have been incorporated into their own compact range.
The talk will focus on the Compact Range, its design and operation and performance.
Mike Shields is a senior staff member of MIT Lincoln Laboratory and is deputy manager for the Compact Range. He joined Lincoln Laboratory in 1984 and has worked on electronic countermeasures, microwave atmospheric sounding, and antenna designs for various projects, including a dual-band radar and upgrade phased array system for the Global Hawk. From 1987 to 1990, he was assistant leader of the TRADEX radar at the Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein atoll. He is a senior member of the IEEE and has been the Secretary / Treasurer of the Antennas and Propagation Society since 2000. He has an MSEE degree from the University of Denver and an M.S. degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Colorado.
The meeting will be held at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Cafeteria in Lexington, MA. Refreshments will be served at 5:30; the talk will begin at 6:00 pm. The talk is open to the general public. Dinner at a local restaurant will follow for all those interested in continuing conversations with the speaker.
Directions to Lincoln Laboratory Cafeteria from points north: Take I-95/128 south to exit 31B, Routes 4 & 225 towards Bedford. Stay in right lane and use the right turning lane (0.3 miles) to access Hartwell Ave at first traffic light. Follow Hartwell Ave to the end; take a left onto Wood Street (just before the AFB gate). Lincoln Laboratory entrance is 0.5 miles on right. The entrance to the cafeteria is on the lower level left of the main entrance.
From points south: Take I-95/128 north to exit 30B, Route 2A west. Turn right on to Mass Ave (~0.4 miles). Turn left on to Wood Street (~0.4 miles) Lincoln Laboratory Wood Street entrance is 1 mile on left. The entrance to the cafeteria is on the lower level to the left of the main entrance.
Contact Information:
For more information, contact Brad Perry, 781-981-0861, bperry@ll.mit.edu (AP-S Boston Section Chair)
Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Antennas and Propagation, and Signal Processing Societies
5:30 PM Refreshments; 6:00 PM Talk; June 10 (Rescheduled from May 15)
Space-Time Adaptive Processing for Heterogeneous Radar Clutter Scenarios
Dr. Muralidhar Rangaswamy, Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate
Early contributions of Howells, Applebaum, and Widrow on adaptive arrays will be briefly reviewed. Sample Matrix Inversion (SMI) method and its variants from the standpoint of CFAR and training data support for covariance matrix estimation will be presented. Candidate reduced-dimension methods will be introduced. Problems encountered in covariance estimation on account of heterogeneous training data and ameliorating solutions from phenomenological, systems and statistical perspective and resulting impact on STAP algorithm performance will be featured. Statistical and ad-hoc techniques for characterizing heterogeneous training data will be discussed. The resulting impact on STAP performance will be presented using simulated and measured data. Some attention will be devoted to recent advances from knowledge based STAP.
Muralidhar Rangaswamy received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, in 1992.
He is presently a Senior Electronics Engineer at the Sensors Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Hanscom Air Force Base, MA. Prior to this, he has held industrial and academic appointments. His research interests include radar signal processing, spectrum estimation, modeling non-Gaussian interference phenomena, and statistical communication theory. He has co-authored more than 70 refereed journal and conference record papers in the areas of his research interests. Additionally, he is a contributor to three books and is a co-inventor on two U.S. patents.
Dr. Rangaswamy received the 2004 Fred Nathanson Memorial Radar Award from the IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society, the 2006 Distinguished Member award from the IEEE Boston Section, and the 2005 Charles Ryan Basic Research Award from the Sensors Directorate of AFRL, in addition to 20 AFRL scientific achievement awards.
Directions to MIT Lincoln Laboratory:
The meeting will be held at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Cafeteria in Lexington, MA. Refreshments will be served at 5:30; the talk will begin at 6:00 pm. The talk is open to the general public. Dinner at a local restaurant will follow for all those interested in continuing conversations with the speaker.
Directions to Lincoln Laboratory Cafeteria from points north: Take I-95/128 south to exit 31B, Routes 4 & 225 towards Bedford. Stay in right lane and use the right turning lane (0.3 miles) to access Hartwell Ave at first traffic light. Follow Hartwell Ave to the end; take a left onto Wood Street (just before the AFB gate). Lincoln Laboratory entrance is 0.5 miles on right. The entrance to the cafeteria is on the lower level left of the main entrance.
From points south: Take I-95/128 north to exit 30B, Route 2A west. Turn right on to Mass Ave (~0.4 miles). Turn left on to Wood Street (~0.4 miles) Lincoln Laboratory Wood Street entrance is 1 mile on left. The entrance to the cafeteria is on the lower level to the left of the main entrance.
For more information, contact Brad Perry, 781-981-0861, bperry@ll.mit.edu (AP-S Boston Section Chair)
Microwave Theory and Techniques, Aerospace and Electronic Systems and Antennas & Propagation Societies
6:00 PM, Monday, 23 June
Three-Dimensional Micromachining for Integrated Microwave and Millimeter Wave Systems
J. Robert Reid, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Air Force Research Laboratory, 80 Scott Dr., Hanscom AFB, MA
The demand for wireless services such as high data rate communications, non-invasive detection of concealed weapons, and high resolution radar is pushing designers to develop highly integrated systems operating at frequencies above 10 GHz. Unfortunately, designing highly integrated RF systems at these frequencies is very challenging due to tight fabrication tolerances, interconnection losses, and signal cross talk. Three dimensional metal micromachining processes have now developed to a point where they offer a solution. Using these processes, passive microwave and millimeter-wave components such as transmission lines, routing networks, and filters can be realized with exceptional performance. Indeed with three dimensional micromachining, it is possible to fabricate highly complex systems such as beam formers in 10% of the volume required using traditional approaches.
This seminar will cover the current state of the art for three dimensional metal micromachining of microwave and millimeter-wave components. The talk will begin with an overview of the two most available processes: EFAB and Polystrata. Next, the presentation will provide details on the realization and performance of transmission lines, couplers, and filters. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the technology and competing fabrication approaches will be discussed.
Dr. J. Robert (Rob) Reid received his BSEE from Duke University in 1992 and his MSEE and PhD degrees from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in 1993 and 1996 respectively. After graduating from AFIT, he took a position with the Rome Laboratory (now the Air Force Research Laboratory) where he leads a team focused on applying micromachining and MEMS to front end antenna technology. His current research interests include RF MEMS switches and variable capacitors, integrated transmission lines and routing networks, microwave and millimeter-wave filters, and micro-robotics.
Dr. Reid is a member of Sigma Xi and the IEEE. He serves on the Microwave Theory and Techniques (MTT) Society RF MEMS technical coordinating committee and was chosen to be on the MTT speakers bureau. He has received numerous awards including the 2005 Sigma Xi, Northeast Region Young Investigator Award and the 2007 Sensors Directorate Samuel L. Burka Award.
This is a joint meeting sponsored by MTT, AES, and AP and will be held at the Lincoln Laboratory Cafeteria in Lexington, MA. Refreshments will be served at 5:30; the talk will begin at 6:00 pm. The talk is open to the general public.
Direction to Lincoln Laboratory Cafeteria from points north: Take I-95/128 south to exit 31B, Routes 4 & 225 towards Bedford. Stay in right lane and use the right turning lane (0.3 miles) to access Hartwell Ave at first traffic light. Follow Hartwell Ave to the end; take a left onto Wood Street (just before the AFB gate). Lincoln Laboratory entrance is 0.5 miles on right. The entrance to the cafeteria is on the lower level left of the main entrance.
From points south: Take I-95/128 north to exit 30B, Route 2A west. Turn right on to Mass Ave (~0.4 miles). Turn left on to Wood Street (~0.4 miles) Lincoln Laboratory Wood Street entrance is 1 mile on left. The entrance to the cafeteria is on the lower level to the left of the main entrance
For more information contact: Grace Chu, Tyco Electronics, email: chus@tycoelectronics.com; Jeremy Muldavin, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, email: Muldavin@ll.mit.edu, Eli Brookner, Raytheon, email: eli_brookner@raytheon.com, and Bradley Perry, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, email: bperry@ll.mit.edu
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Maintained by R M Stelting
Updated: May 13, 2008.