Dual axis multi-beam radars

The evolution in today's radar design is driven by new and highly variable naval and land-based missions encountering a great diversity of threats. The broad threat spectrum ranges from small slow moving UAVs to very small, fast and agile missiles. Detecting these targets simultaneously imposes conflicting requirements on a radar design. The great variety of missions in an increasingly complex littoral environment requires a flexible radar design with multi-mission capabilities. The system also needs to be easy upgradable, supporting modernization of the system during its operational lifetime to enable adaptation to new threats. New technologies, such as the introduction of Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) antenna technology, compact receiver technology and growth in processing power opens the door to the introduction of Dual Axis Multi-beam forming. By inserting this next step in digital beam forming, the great variety and often conflicting requirements imposed on a modern radar system can be dealt with, without the need for the operator to switch between multiple modes. This paper will describe the working and benefits of Dual Axis Multi-beam forming, as well as the operational advantages. The concepts are applicable for fixed and rotating antenna radars.