Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Earnest R Harrison, Jr

Timothy G Waterman

An MTI radar system transmits pulses with variable interpulse time periods and is structured with a lattice filter to process return signals to identify targets while substantially rejecting static and moving clutter. The MTI radar system also operates to reject adverse effects of transmitter instability in the processing of return signals. The MTI radar system is applied as an airport traffic control in which aircraft are detected as targets.

Ground based pulse radar system and method providing high clutter

A radar antenna system, adapted to be supported on an aircraft for surveillance, employs a nonconducting disk radome structured with aerodynamic fairing and otherwise to produce relatively low aerodynamic drag. A plurality of struts are used to secure the disk radome to the aircraft with the disk radome generally extending in a solid horizontal reference plane. A plurality of elongated, relatively low gain radiating elements are supported by a ground-plane box within the disk radome, with the radiating elements distributed across the disk radome and disposed to radiate generally in the vertical direction. An electronic system is supported within the ground-plane box, and it includes respective transmit/receive circuits which send and receive radio frequency signals to and from the radiating elements. Power cables extend through the struts to couple signals between the electronic system in the disk radome and radar system level circuitry located externally of the disk radome.

Steerable disk antenna

A winch 100 is provided for taking up or paying out cable 13 without damaging protrusions 14 spaced along the cable from potentially high compressive forces applied to the cable when it is wound over drum members 16, 18, 20 of each of a pair of drum mechanisms 30A and 30B. The winch is operated so that the cable is pulled over the drum members and wound about the two drum mechanisms as a unit, such that successive cable protrusions are always maintained in successive cable path spaces between the drums of each drum mechanism.

Self-synchronizing pulley/winch apparatus and operating method for cable

A bus structure for a real-time multiprocessor computing system connects, for example, 16 processors, each having only two bus interfaces, without degrading processor performance or requiring partitioning by application programmers. The processors are divided into groups with each combination of two groups connected together and to memory and peripheral units via a different bus. In a computing system having first, second, third and fourth processor groups and first and second memory groups and peripheral groups, a first bus connects the first and second processor groups together and to first groups of memory and peripheral units, a second bus connects the first and fourth processors together and to second memory and peripheral groups, a third bus connects the second and third processors to the second memory and peripheral groups and a fourth bus connects the third and fourth processor groups to the first memory and peripheral groups.

Multi-processor computer system bus architecture

An adaptive filter for enhancing the discrimination of targets from clutter and noise and suitable for use in a pulse doppler radar signal processor which processes successive echo pulse period signalling in accordance with range cell samples is disclosed. One embodiment of the filter has a delayed lattice configuration including a plurality of cascadedly coupled lattice stages, each adapted to operate on the range cell samples of first and second complex signal inputs. The adaptive filter embodiment provides rapid and low cost updating of the lattice stage weighting coefficients so that varying clutter spectrums may be effectively dealt with. Moreover, the lattice filter embodiment is insensitive to average clutter motion and to transmitter phase and gain instabilities. It further permits the use of variable interpulse period operation in radars that are unambiguous in range. Furthermore, the lattice filter embodiment adapts to and whitens the actual clutter spectrum being received by the radar and not some model spectrum that may be quite inaccurate.

Growing community of inventors

Severna Park, MD, United States of America

Earnest R Harrison, Jr