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Design and implementation of a X-band transmitter and frequency distribution unit for a synthetic aperture radar

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can provide high-resolution images of extensive areas of the earth's surface from a platform operating at long ranges, despite adverse weather conditions or darkness. A local consortium was established to demonstrate a consolidated South African SAR ability to demonstr...

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Main Author: Coetzer, Darren Grant
Other Authors: Inggs, Michael
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Electrical Engineering 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Coetzer, Darren Grant
author2 Inggs, Michael
author_browse Coetzer, Darren Grant
Inggs, Michael
author_facet Inggs, Michael
Coetzer, Darren Grant
author_sort Coetzer, Darren Grant
collection Thesis
description Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can provide high-resolution images of extensive areas of the earth's surface from a platform operating at long ranges, despite adverse weather conditions or darkness. A local consortium was established to demonstrate a consolidated South African SAR ability to demonstrate to the local and international communities, by generating high quality images with a South African X-band demonstrator. This dissertation forms part of the project. It aims to describe the design and implementation of the transmitter and associated frequency distribution unit (FDU) for the SASAR II, X-band SAR. Although the transmitter and FDU are two separate units, they are ultimately linked. The transmitter has the task of taking a low-power, baseband, chirp waveform and. through a series of mixers, filters and amplifiers, converting it to a high-power, microwave signal. The FDU is essentially the heart of the transceiver and provides drive to all the mixer local oscillator (LO) inputs. It also clocks the DAC and ADC which allow the essentially analogue transceiver to communicate with the digital circuitry. It is found that the chirp signal produced is of satisfactory fidelity. LO feed through, however, is superimposed at the chirps' centre frequency. As a result of previous stages, spurious signals exist at 16 MHz offset from the chirps' centre frequency and at 9142 MHz. The system transfer function reveals that 2 dB roll-off is present at the outer frequencies of the chirp signal. Group delay in the transmitter filters and amplifiers is held responsible for this.
format Thesis
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:17.944Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Electrical Engineering
publisherStr Department of Electrical Engineering
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6713 Design and implementation of a X-band transmitter and frequency distribution unit for a synthetic aperture radar Coetzer, Darren Grant Inggs, Michael Electrical Engineering Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can provide high-resolution images of extensive areas of the earth's surface from a platform operating at long ranges, despite adverse weather conditions or darkness. A local consortium was established to demonstrate a consolidated South African SAR ability to demonstrate to the local and international communities, by generating high quality images with a South African X-band demonstrator. This dissertation forms part of the project. It aims to describe the design and implementation of the transmitter and associated frequency distribution unit (FDU) for the SASAR II, X-band SAR. Although the transmitter and FDU are two separate units, they are ultimately linked. The transmitter has the task of taking a low-power, baseband, chirp waveform and. through a series of mixers, filters and amplifiers, converting it to a high-power, microwave signal. The FDU is essentially the heart of the transceiver and provides drive to all the mixer local oscillator (LO) inputs. It also clocks the DAC and ADC which allow the essentially analogue transceiver to communicate with the digital circuitry. It is found that the chirp signal produced is of satisfactory fidelity. LO feed through, however, is superimposed at the chirps' centre frequency. As a result of previous stages, spurious signals exist at 16 MHz offset from the chirps' centre frequency and at 9142 MHz. The system transfer function reveals that 2 dB roll-off is present at the outer frequencies of the chirp signal. Group delay in the transmitter filters and amplifiers is held responsible for this. 2014-08-28T14:09:53Z 2014-08-28T14:09:53Z 2004 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6713 eng application/pdf Department of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Electrical Engineering
Coetzer, Darren Grant
Design and implementation of a X-band transmitter and frequency distribution unit for a synthetic aperture radar
title Design and implementation of a X-band transmitter and frequency distribution unit for a synthetic aperture radar
title_full Design and implementation of a X-band transmitter and frequency distribution unit for a synthetic aperture radar
title_fullStr Design and implementation of a X-band transmitter and frequency distribution unit for a synthetic aperture radar
title_full_unstemmed Design and implementation of a X-band transmitter and frequency distribution unit for a synthetic aperture radar
title_short Design and implementation of a X-band transmitter and frequency distribution unit for a synthetic aperture radar
title_sort design and implementation of a x band transmitter and frequency distribution unit for a synthetic aperture radar
topic Electrical Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6713
work_keys_str_mv AT coetzerdarrengrant designandimplementationofaxbandtransmitterandfrequencydistributionunitforasyntheticapertureradar