Attention MIT Students: Build a Small Radar System Capable of Sensing Range, Doppler, and Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging

A great opportunity for MIT undergrad and graduate students to enroll in the 2011 IAP course:

Build a Small Radar System Capable of Sensing Range, Doppler, and Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging
Dr. Gregory L. Charvat, Mr. Jonathan H. Williams & Dr. Alan J. Fenn, Dr. Stephen M. Kogon, Dr. Jeffrey S. Herd
Mon Jan 10, Fri Jan 14, 21, Mon Jan 24, Fri Jan 28, 10am-12:00pm, 56-114

Enrollment limited: advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 07-Jan-2011
Limited to 24 participants.
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
Prereq: Participants supply their own laptop with MATLAB installed

Are you interested in building and testing your own imaging radar system? MIT Lincoln Laboratory is offering a course in the design, fabrication, and testing of a laptop-based radar sensor capable of measuring Doppler, range, and forming synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. You do not have to be a radar engineer but it helps if you are interested in any of the following; electronics, amateur radio, physics, or electromagnetics. It is recommended that you have some familiarity with MATLAB. Teams of three will receive a radar kit and will attend a total of 5 sessions spanning topics from the fundamentals of radar to SAR imaging. Experiments will be performed each week as the radar kit is implemented. You will bring your radar kit into the field and perform additional experiments such as measuring the speed of passing cars or plotting the range of moving targets. A final SAR imaging contest will test your ability to form a SAR image of a target scene of your choice from around campus, the most detailed and most creative image wins.
Contact: Dr. Gregory L. Charvat, (781) 981-3122, gregory.charvat@ll.mit.edu

Slides from Monday Dec 6, 2010 meeting with John Volakis on 'Small Wideband and Conformal Metamaterial Antennas and Arrays,'

Hi everyone,

Please find the slides from our Monday Dec 6 meeting with John Volakis on 'Small Wideband and Conformal Metamaterial Antennas and Arrays,' here.

Have a great Holliday,

Greg, Chair AP-S Boston Chapter

Metamaterials for Miniaturization of Narrowband and Ultra-Wideband Antennas

Please join the IEEE AP-S Boston Chapter for a special holiday seminar from distinguished lecturer John Volakis, Director of the legendary OSU Electro-Science Laboratory at Ohio State University.

Volakis will present his research on "Metamaterials for miniaturization of narrowband and ultra-wideband antennas."

This talk will be held on Monday December 6, at 6pm in the
MIT Lincoln Laboratory A-Café, 244 Wood Street, Lexington, MA. For directions please see: http://www.ll.mit.edu/about/map.html

For details, please visit:
http://www.ieeeboston.org/org/subgroups/antennas_propagation.html

Please feel free to invite your friends, it is sure to be an enjoyable
evening full of radar, antenna, signal processing, and sensing
discussions.

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ABSTRACT
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It is well-recognized that materials design holds promise in developing novel antennas that are much smaller and allow greater multi-functionality than ever before. Such needs stem from the unprecedented growth of wireless communications and related research that is highly fueled by growth in commercial and defense multi-band and high bandwidth future communication systems. This presentation will discuss how modified materials, inductive/capacitive lumped loads and low loss magnetic materials/crystals (Metamaterials) are impacting antenna design with the goal of overcoming miniaturization challenges (viz. bandwidth and gain reduction, multi-functionality etc.). Dielectric design and texturing has, for example, led to significant size reduction and higher bandwidth for low frequency antennas. Also, recent magnetic photonic crystals (MPCs) and non magnetic versions of these crystals hold a promise for antenna/array miniaturization. Formal design methods incorporating local, global or hybrid optimizers for antenna and their radio frequency (RF) applications will play a critical role in materials design. Practical realizations of these new materials are poised to challenge computational and design methods for a variety of RF applications.

Upcoming AP-S Boston Talks December-March

Hi Everyone,

Here is a list of the lineup of talks we have for you from December to March. We are looking forward to this winter season of learning new things about electromagnetics and more fascinating discussions with authors. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Greg, Chair AP-S Boston Chapter.

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December 6, 2010, 6pm at MIT/LL main cafe.
A special AP-S, AES, GRSS holiday meeting with the world famous John
Volakis, Director of the legendary OSU Electro Science Laboratory.
John will present a lecture to us about: Metamaterials for
Miniaturization of Narrowband and Ultra-Wideband Antennas. For more
information:
http://www.ieeeboston.org/org/subgroups/antennas_propagation.html

January 26, 2011, 6pm at the MIT/LL main cafe.
Paul G. Elliot and Kiersten C. Kerby from the MITRE Corporation will
present their fascinating work on a MULTIPLE-BEAM PLANAR LENS ANTENNA
PROTOTYPE.
ABSTRACT — A new low-height X/Ku-band (8.2-12.2 GHz) antenna was
designed, built and tested which provides full 360 degree coverage
around azimuth using multiple beams, covering the low elevation angles
with peak gain of 12 dBi at 10 GHz. Computer modeling showed that
about 18 dBi gain can also be achieved using this type of lens. The
antenna shape is circular and flat with feed ports in a circle near
the periphery. Switching between beams is accomplished by switching
between beam ports. The prototype antenna built was 13.3 cm diameter
by 1.56 cm high, which is approximately 41⁄2 wavelengths wide by 1⁄2
wavelengths thick at 10 GHz. The weight was 259g. Each feed port
drives a small monocone to feed the lens, which radiates a beam close
to endfire on the opposite side from the driven feed port. This flat
lens antenna is extremely wideband and radiates a leaky wave from the
surface of the beamforming lens, so it combines the functions of
beamformer and planar radiating aperture into one structure, thereby
achieving lower height and weight and simpler construction than other
antenna types with 360° coverage.

Feb 23, 2011, 6pm at MIT/LL main cafe.
The world famous Eli Brookner will present his 2010 IEEE Intl.
Symposium on Phased Array Sys. & Tech Plenary Session talk, Never
Ending Saga of Phased Array Breakthroughs. This is a must-see for
those of you who want a briefing on the state of the art phased array
technology as of this fall.
Abstract
• 3, 4, 6 face “Aegis” systems developed by China, Japan, Australia,
Netherlands, USA • Israel and Australia “Aegis” AESAs have an A/D at
every element, a major breakthrough.
• GaN advancing rapidly. Will be helped by use for PCs, notebooks,
cell phones, servers. • Extreme MMIC: 4 X-band T/Rs on 1 SiGe chip for
DARPA ISIS program; goal <$10/TR.
• Raytheon funding development of low cost flat panel X- band array
using COTS type PCB. • MA-COM/Lincoln-Lab. development of low cost S-
band flat panel array using PCB, overlapped subarrays and a T/R switch
instead of a circulator.
• Purdue Un. developing S-band low cost Digital Array Radar; GaN PA
and A/D at every element. • Revolutionary 3-D Micromachining:
integrated circuitry for microwave components, like 16 element Ka-band
array with Butler beamformer on 13X2 cm2 chip.
• Ultra low cost 77 GHz radar on 72mm2 chip together with >8 bits 1 GS/
s A/D and 16 element array. • Valeo-Raytheon 24 GHz phased array now
available for blind spot detection in cars for just $100’s.
• Lincoln Lab using 2 W chip increases spurious free dynamic range of
receiver plus A/D by 20 dB • JPL’s SweepSAR provides wide swath SAR
from space with 1/6 th power required by ScanSAR.
• Metamaterials: 1. Can now focus 6X beyond diffraction limit at 0.38
μm – Moore’s Law marches on. 2. Used in cell phones to obtain antennas
5X smaller and have 700 MHz-2.7 GHz bandwidth. 3. Provide isolation
between closely spaced antennas and antenna elements.

March 22, 2011, 6pm at MIT/LL main cafe.
A AP-S & AES joint meeting with Duane J. Matthiesen from Technia
Consulting, who will present to us his thoughts on, Efficient Beam
Scanning, Energy Allocation, and Time Allocation for Search and
Detection.
Abstract — Recently-developed unique and innovative concepts for
efficient radar search and detection are reviewed. These results
provide answers to the two fundamental search questions: (1) Where
should the radar beam point during the next increment of search effort
(energy and time)? (2) How much radar effort should be expended
during the next increment of search effort? These results provide the
most efficient allocation of radar search effort in both space and
time which maximizes target detection performance and minimizes radar
search energy and time. Typical savings of several dB of radar
power-aperture product and/or expected (average) detection time are
obtained. These new techniques are practical and can be used in the
next generation of radars with agile beams and variable-energy search
waveforms. Furthermore, the problem formulation and solution are
very general, so these search and detection techniques developed for
radar can also be applied to other both active (transmitting and
receiving) and passive (receive only) electronic sensors: optical,
IR, UV, sonar, seismic, passive RF, astronomy, etc.

10/27: The U.S. Army Research Laboratory Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Low-Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): Overview and Signal Processing Techniques

We are very pleased to bring you Lam Nguyen, who is flying up to visit
us from the US Army Research Laboratory. Lam will present his work
on: The U.S. Army Research Laboratory Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Low-
Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): Overview and Signal
Processing Techniques.

This talk will be on Wednesday October 27, at 6pm in the MIT/LL
Cafeteria.

For details, please visit:
http://www.ieeeboston.org/org/subgroups/antennas_propagation.html

This is a special multi-chapter talk, brought to you by AESS, AP-S,
GRSS, and SPS chapters of Boston. A special thanks to Eli Brookner
for setting up this talk.

Please feel free to invite your friends, it is sure to be an enjoyable
evening full of radar, antenna, signal processing, and sensing
discussions.

%-------------------------------%

Abstract

%-------------------------------%

This talk first presents an overview of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) UWB low-frequency SAR. The second part of the talk presents the SAR signal processing and image formation techniques employed by the ARL UWB radar. ARL has designed and fabricated a vehicle-based UWB low-frequency SAR for the detection of concealed targets such as obstacles behind foliage, and surface and buried mines. The low-frequency radar also offers the capability of mapping of a building interior, as well as detecting moving targets behind the walls. The radar system can be configured in various modes of operation: forward looking SAR, side-looking SAR, and stationary. The radar transmits time-domain impulses that occupy the frequency band of 300—3000 MHz. The system employs a physical array of 16 receive antennas to provide the necessary aperture for sufficient cross-range resolution in the forward-looking and stationary modes. Two transmitters are located at the two ends of the receive array to virtually double the size of the physical receive array and maximize the cross-range resolution in the forward-looking mode.

The signal processing section includes the suppression of interference signals, the removal of signal distortions due to the moving platform with respect to the scene during the data acquisition cycle, the subband filtering, and the SAR image formation. ARL has developed the Recursive Sidelobe Minimization (RSM) technique that is integrated with the standard back-projection image formation. The technique has been shown to significantly reduce the artifacts due to sidelobes and noise in SAR imagery. This talk presents results from the forward-looking experiments for the detection of obstacles. SAR imagery of a building interior from the side-looking SAR mode is also presented.

Mr. Lam Nguyen received the BSEE, MSEE, and MSCS degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, and The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, respectively.

He started his career with General Electric Company from 1984 to 1985. He has been with the Army Research Lab (ARL) and its predecessor organization, Harry Diamond Labs, from 1986 to the present. He has been primarily engaged in the research and development of several versions of ultra-wide-band (UWB) radar since 1992 to present. These radar systems have been used for the proof of concept demonstration in many concealed target detection programs. He has been developing algorithms for SAR signal and image processing. Mr. Nguyen has authored or coauthored over 70 conference and journal publications. Mr. Nguyen received the U.S. Army Research and Development Achievement Awards in 2006, 2008, and 2010.

Huge Success! 2010 IEEE Intl. Symposium on Phased Array Sys. & Tech

I want to thank everyone for attending the 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology. There were a total of 520 attendees, approximately 180+ papers, two excellent tutorial sessions, and may outstanding meals too!

The papers were very good, most were about systems that were completely modeled, fabricated, and tested.

With all of this ongoing we also found time for some dancing. Shown here are a series of photos of Eli Brookner dancing with my fiancee.

Thank you for attending, looking forward to our next conference.

Greg,

Chair AP-S Boston

This week in Waltham MA: 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Sys. & Tech.

Hi everyone,

This week don't forget to drop by the 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology, in Waltham MA.

You can register at the door if you have not done so already.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Greg,

Chair AP-S Boston Chapter

Don't forget to sign up to the student event at the 2010 IEEE Intl. Symposium on Phased Array Sys. & Tech

Are you a student who is interested in learning about phased array systems, what they are, how they work?

Then be sure to sing up to the free 1-day student event at the 2010 IEEE Symposium on Phased Array Systems & Technology, October 12, 2010 in Waltham, MA.

The IEEE is trying to encourage young people to study engineering as a profession, as a result many of our interesting conferences like this one are offering 1-day student events free to anyone.

The event is free, it includes lunch and a lecture by Eli Brookner, who is well known in the field of phased array radar systems and a great speaker. After lunch the students will get to see the symposium welcome speech by Mark Russell, and keynote by Dennis Picard. Finally, students will get to meet with companies, talk to engineers in the field, and meet other students who are studying antenna arrays in grad school.

As you might guess, it's not easy getting attendance levels up for something as specific as phased array antennas, or even raising awareness of how much fun phased array engineering can be as a career path.

For more information please visit:

website:

http://www.array2010.org/student.htm

student event flyer:

http://www.array2010.org/pdfs/past2010_studentevent_flyer.pdf

student event schedule:

http://www.array2010.org/pdfs/past2010_studentevent_schedule.pdf

To register, go here:

https://mandalore.tchmachines.com/%7Eqtzycpf/forms/phased_array_stu/student_pa_regpay.php

Please encourage any students or student groups that you know to check out this unique and free event. Looking forward to seeing you at the Phased Array Symposium!

Greg

Chair AP-S Boston Chapter

Tuesday, 9/28, THz Technology for Space and Earth Applications

We are very excited to bring you Peter de Maagt, who is from the Antenna and Submillimetre Wave Section of The European Space Agency. Peter is flying to Boston from the Netherlands to speak to us about Terahertz Technology for Space and Earth Applications.

Here is a link to Peter's abstract, bio, and further information:
http://ieeeboston.org/org/subgroups/antennas_propagation.html

This meeting will be co-sponsored by AESS, Photonics, and GRSS societies. Meeting will be held at the MIT/LL Cafeteria at 6pm on 9/28. Coffee, soda, cookies, and apples will be served.

Please join us for this fascinating talk and help welcome Peter to Boston. Feel free to invite your friends.

Hope to see you there,

Greg, Chair AP-S Boston Section

IEEE Boston Fall 2010 Continuing Education Program, a must-read

Want to expand your knowledge of engineering, EM, radar systems, embedded systems, and other advanced topics?

Check out the IEEE Boston Continuing Education Program.

Topics include: Embedded/advanced embedded Linux, RF and uWave fundamentals, Analog filter design, RF PCB design, Radar basics, PLL design, Multi-Sensor Nav and Tracking, and many others.

This is a great way to quickly get up to speed on any one of these topics. We are fortunate to have such tutorials readily available to us in the Boston area, i hope that our members take advantage of the IEEE Boston Continuing Education Program.

Greg, Chair AP-S Boston

Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) in Boston, September 20-23

Hi everyone

For those of you who develop complete radar, radiometer, and other
measurement systems you might want to consider attending the Embedded
Systems Conference (ESC) in Boston, September 20-23 at the Hynes
Convention center:
http://esc-boston.techinsightsevents.com/

The technical program is particularly interesting, where you actually
build your own embedded systems:
http://esc-boston.techinsightsevents.com/sessions_by_track

Hope to see you there!

%----------------------------------%

Other announcements:

Don't forget to register for 2010 International Symposium on Phased
Array Systems & Technology. We have discussed the awesome technical
program this year, the free student event, and the fascinating
tutorial sessions. If you haven't already please register because the
registration rates increase on Sept 10: http://www.array2010.org/registration.html

6:00 PM, Tuesday, 28 September
We are pleased to bring you: Terahertz Technology for Space and Earth
Applications
Presented by Peter de Maagt, Antenna and Submillimetre Wave Section,
Electromagnetics & Space Environments Division, European Space Agency
http://www.ieeeboston.org/org/subgroups/antennas_propagation.html

Have a great week,
Greg, Chair AP-S Boston

IEEE AP-S Boston Home Discussions + new post Members Pages Files About this group Edit my membership Group settings Management tasks Invite membe

Hi everyone,

Support your local IEEE Chapter by registering for the 2010 IEEE
International Symposium on Phased Array Systems & Technology, in
Waltham MA October 12-15, 2010. The more of us who attend the more
likely it will be that the next one is held in the Boston area.

The technical program is excellent:
http://www.array2010.org/techprog.html

The tutorial sessions are a no-miss:
http://www.array2010.org/techprog.html#ts1
http://www.array2010.org/techprog.html#ts2

There is a free student event for any students who are interested in
learning about phased array design as a career path:
http://www.array2010.org/student.htm

And the plenary session will provide a glimpse into the future of
phased array systems:
http://www.array2010.org/techprog.html#plenary1

To register start here:
http://www.array2010.org/registration.html

Please let me know if you have any questions, i am a Chair on the
conference committee. Please spread the word to your friends too.

See you later this month for Peter de Maagt's talk on THZ technology.

Greg, Chair AP-S Boston

Early Phased Array Development at Lincoln Laboratory (circa 1958-1968)

(image from http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/photogallery/photogallery.html)

Hi everyone,

We are pleased to bring you Bill Delaney, a Senior Fellow of the Defense Science Board and MIT Lincoln Laboratory Director's Office Fellow, who will be presenting:

6:00 PM, Wednesday, 25 August

Early Phased Array Development at Lincoln Laboratory (circa 1958-1968)

Bill Delaney, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Lincoln’s developments in electronically-steered array antennas began in earnest about 1958. The challenge was the forthcoming need for powerful wide-angle-scanning radars for satellite detection and tracking. The Space Age had just started a year earlier with the launch of Sputnik. The Soviet Union was also launching long-range ballistic missiles and missile defense would demand rapid movement of the antenna beam for surveillance and fire-control.

A small group at Lincoln Laboratory formed around a visionary individual, John Allen, to pursue this immature technology. John’s goal was “National” in scope; he wanted to make electronically-steered arrays a practical option for the defense/military user. The Lincoln program would have to foster tight coupling to the industrial teams, labs and military users around the nation who were also pursuing this technology.

This talk will describe the technology situation in 1958; it was woefully inadequate to the job such that many technical people considered the vision of an affordable, high-powered 5000 element array with all elements acting reliably and in complete phase-coherence as an “impossible dream”. Of course, in the land of the Red Sox, impossible dreams do come true and in 1968 the FPS-85 space surveillance radar went on the air at Eglin Air Force Base with 30 Megawatts of peak power and 5000 elements at UHF. It is still on the air today!

Examples of the phased array components of the Lincoln program and the full radar system achievements of industry will be presented in rough time-order of achievement. A few remaining outstanding challenges will be discussed.

The Lincoln program began with an across-the-board attack on antennas, power amplifiers, receivers, beam-formers and control devices; the first goal was linear arrays which rapidly migrated to two dimensional arrays. It was clear that solid-state was the place to go but there were no high-frequency or high-power solid state devices to go to! In the mid 1960’s the nation undertook focused solid state device work at L-Band and that embryonic work carried us 40 years later to today’s fine X-band, all-solid-state radars .

The Laboratory program did make the industry and other laboratory connections and played a key role in getting things started. We thought it might take 10 to 15 years to “realize the vision”, but we were very optimistic , it took closer to 50 years but we are there today ( so there is hope for the Sox)!

Bill Delaney received his EE degree from Rensselear in 1957, joined Lincoln Laboratory and simultaneously entered the MIT Graduate School. He immediately became involved in phased-array radar with a thesis topic on: “Phase Stabilization of UHF Power Amplifiers” ( for phased arrays ). He rejoined the Special Radars Group in 1959 at the completion of his MSEE degree.

His 53 year association with Lincoln has led him in many directions: radar, phased array antennas, missile defense, air defense, wideband radar, air traffic control, tactical battlefield technology, GPS and participation in literally hundreds of special studies and task forces for the Department of Defense. He did a tour at the Kwajalein radar site and a tour in the Pentagon in DDR&E. He was appointed an Assistant Director of Lincoln in 1987 and since 1995 has been the Director’s Office Fellow at the Laboratory.

Bill is currently a Senior Fellow of the Defense Science Board and in 1995 he was elected a Fellow of the IEEE.

Meeting will be held at MIT Lincoln Laboratory A-Café, 244 Wood Street, Lexington, MA. For directions please see:http://www.ll.mit.edu/about/map.html

For more information, contact Antennas & Propagation chair, Gregory Charvat at Gregory.charvat@ll.mit.edu

Reminder to register for the 2010 IEEE international Symposium on Phased Array Systems & Technology

Hello AP-S Boston community,

Per your ongoing interest in phased array antenna systems I want to remind you to register for the 2010 IEEE international Symposium on Phased Array Systems & Technology, in our very own Waltham MA, this October :)

Check out the fascinating technical program.

Join the facebook group.

Or, if you are a student then register here for the student event, because we want to encourage the young engineers to study applied electromagnetics and eventually phased array antenna systems.

Spread the word around your workplace or school sending the flyer to all of your friends.

See you on August 25, for Bill Delany's talk on Early Phased Array Developments at Lincoln Laboratory

Greg,

Chair

IEEE AP-S Boston Chapter

Technology Goes to War, by Deborah G. Douglass, Wed. July 14, 2010

We are pleased to have Deborah G. Douglas, Curator of Science and
Technology, from the MIT Museum present Technology Goes to War:

World War II is sometimes called the "Wizards' War" because of the
extraordinary contributions made by the scientists and engineers to
the war effort. The nation's research universities were central to
this work but even among the most elite institutions, the
contributions of MIT are unparalleled. Many know of the famous MIT
Radiation Laboratory that made pioneering contributions to the
technology of radar and was the second largest wartime R&D project but
far fewer of projects such as Doc Draper's gunsights (which turned the
tide of the Navy's battle in the Pacific), the Chemical Warfare
Service Lab that transformed gas mask technology and invented gasoline
flame throwers, or Jay Forrester's early work on a flight simulator
that led to the Whirlwind computer. Dr. Douglas presents an
illustrated slide lecture that reviews the fascinating history of MIT
and the birth of the military-industrial-university complex.

This presentation will be at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory cafeteria at
6:00 PM, Wednesday, 14 July. For more information goto:
http://www.ieeeboston.org/org/subgroups/antennas_propagation.html

In preparation for this talk i am asking you to learn more about WW2
radar and optical sensor systems, gun laying computer systems, and the
feedback servo control systems used to direct the guns by visiting any
one of these local museums:

See many radar and optical systems, mechanical computer, and feedback
control systems used to precisely direct the guns of a WW2 era
battleship, you would be surprised at how sophisticated this equipment
is:
http://www.battleshipcove.org/

See the optical gun sight discussed in Debora's abstract here:
http://web.mit.edu/museum/

Visit a WW2 destroyer in Boston, loaded with the radar and optical
sensors and fire control computer system:
http://www.nps.gov/bost/historyculture/usscassinyoung.htm

Read up on the challenges of WW2 radar design (one of my favorite
books on the topic) by checking out this book at your local library:
http://www.amazon.com/Radar-History-World-War-Imperatives/dp/0750306599

Do your homework and bring some good questions for Deborah :) Feel
free to invite your friends who are interested in technological
history or military history.

Looking forward to seeing you next week!

Greg,
Chair AP-S Boston.

iPhone 4 antenna problem

Fellow antenna engineers:

If you haven't been following Apple's antenna issues with the iPhone 4 here are a couple of interesting reads:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178503/Hardware_expert_explains_iPhone_4_antenna_problem

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178771/Apple_AT_T_sued_over_iPhone_4_antenna_problems?source=toc

And yes, if you were wondering, Apple is trying to hire more antenna engineers ;)

http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=55852&CurrentPage=1

John

Registration now open for 2010 IEEE Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology

Registration is now open for the 2010 IEEE Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology.

At this conference the latest in phased array technology will be presented, discussed, and debated.

This conference is in Waltham, so it is an easy one for the members of AP-S Boston to attend.

I strongly recommend attending if you are a fan of phased array technology, radar imaging, or antenna systems.

Greg

Chair, AP-S Boston

A DIY Synthetic Aperture Radar System

Thought the members of IEEE AP-S Boston Chapter would like to check out this project:

Recently i presented a briefing at the MIT Haystack Observatory open lunch on how to build your own synthetic aperture radar in your backyard. Others found it interesting and it has circulated among several technology blogs.

Here it is on Make Magazine

Here it is on Popular Science

Hope you find this interesting! If you build your own SAR we would like to see it too, post it here on our blog.

Stay tuned for even more interesting stuff coming up at our meeting in July.

Greg,

Chair AP-S Boston.

Cary Rappaport's publications: detecting buried mines, imaging, medical applications of applied EM

Our meeting last week was a record attendance for IEEE AP-S Boston. During which there was much debate and discussion of possible ways to image the location of underground tunnels using UHF SAR. In addition to this, there was much discussion of Cary's previous work in finding buried mines with radar sensing techniques.

I think many of our members would like to read up on Cary's previous work. Here it is, scroll down about half-way to see all publications on these topics.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting,

6:00 PM, Wednesday, 14 July

Technology Goes to War

Deborah G. Douglas, Curator of Science and Technology, MIT Museum

Determining tunnel positions under rough surfaces with underground focused synthetic aperture radar

IEEE AP-S Boston Chapter is pleased to present this fascinating talk on determining tunnel positions using underground focused SAR. As you can guess, this technology has many relevant applications.

Feel free to invite your colleagues, we are looking forward to seeing you there;

6:00 PM, Tuesday, 8 June

Determining tunnel positions under rough surfaces with underground focused synthetic aperture radar

Carey Rappaport, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115

Underground tunnels present both military and homeland security threats since smugglers use them as transit routes for trafficking weapons, explosives, people, drugs, and other illicit materials. Detecting and imaging the presence of tunnels in any given region of ground is possible because the air that fills them is materially quite different from anything else underground. The Spotlight Synthetic Aperture Radar (SL-SAR) has been used due to its ability to scan large areas of terrain in a short amount of time, which is ideal for tunnel detection. In order to obtain strong and distinct target signals, Underground Focusing, based on ray refraction at the ground surface is being considered. This presents a challenge since the technique requires an estimation of the ground characteristics, and the random roughness of the soil surface tends to distort the reconstructed image of the analyzed geometry.

This presentation explores the impact of the surface roughness in Underground Focusing SAR imaging for tunnel detection applications. The study starts by simulating incident plane waves from 19 angles (-45 to 45 degrees) at 128 different frequencies (55 to 550 MHz) with 2-D Finite Difference Frequency Domain (FDFD) analysis on 2 different types of soil: non-dispersive sandy soil and lossy clay loam soil with 10 cm of randomly distributed roughness. It is demonstrated that a shallow tunnel can be imaged in low moisture, non-conductive sand, but that the more lossy moist clay presents too much surface clutter to distinguish the tunnel.

Carey M. Rappaport (IEEE M, SM 96, F 06) received five degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: the SB in Mathematics, the SB, SM, and EE in Electrical Engineering in June 1982, and the PhD in Electrical Engineering in June 1987. He is married to Ann W. Morgenthaler, and has two children, Sarah and Brian.

Prof. Rappaport has worked as a teaching and research assistant at MIT from 1981 until 1987, and during the summers at COMSAT Labs in Clarksburg, MD, and The Aerospace Corp. in El Segundo, CA. He joined the faculty at Northeastern University in Boston, MA in 1987. He has been Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering since July 2000. During fall 1995, he was Visiting Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Electromagnetics Institute of the Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, as part of the W. Fulbright International Scholar Program. During the second half of 2005, he was a visiting research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial and Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Epping Australia. He has consulted for CACI, Alion Science and Technology, Inc., Geo-Centers, Inc., PPG, Inc., and several municipalities on wave propagation and modeling, and microwave heating and safety. He was Principal Investigator of an ARO-sponsored Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative on Humanitarian Demining, Co-Principal Investigator of the NSF-sponsored Engineering Research Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (CenSSIS), and Co-Principal Investigator of the DHS-sponsored Awareness and Localization of Explosive Related Threats (ALERT) Center of Excellence.

Prof. Rappaport has authored over 330 technical journal and conference papers in the areas of microwave antenna design, electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering computation, and bioelectromagnetics, and has received two reflector antenna patents, two biomedical device patents and three subsurface sensing device patents. He was awarded the IEEE Antenna and Propagation Society's H.A. Wheeler Award for best applications paper, as a student in 1986. He is a member of Sigma Xi and Eta Kappa Nu professional honorary societies.

Meeting will be held at MIT Lincoln Laboratory A-Café, 244 Wood Street, Lexington, MA. For directions please see:http://www.ll.mit.edu/about/map.html

For more information, contact Antennas & Propagation chair, Gregory Charvat at Gregory.charvat@ll.mit.edu

Our website is now up

Hi everyone,

Our website is now up, and it is hosted by IEEE APS. If you get a minute please check it out here.

See you at our next meeting!

Greg

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Distinguished Lecturers?

Hi everyone,

We have an opportunity to invite an APS distinguished lecturer to speak for our club.

My question for you is; which topic do you find to be the most interesting?

If you get a minute look these over and let me know:
http://www.ieeeaps.org/distlectureres.html

Post your reply on this blog, our google group, or e-mail directly to me.

Thank you for your time,

Gregory L. Charvat

Chair, IEEE AP-S Boston Chapter

Inverse scattering for coherent optical and radar imaging systems

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a tadpole looks like but did not want to dissect or hurt it? T. Ralston has the answer, he will show us a method that allows medical personnel to look under the skin and see at a microscopic resolution, in 3 dimensions, and in some cases in real-time (see video above of a tadpole's heart beating).

This will be a fascinating talk for anyone interested in scattering, optics, synthetic aperture radar, and medicine. Please feel free to invite your friends!

Details:

5:30 PM, Monday, 10 May

Inverse scattering for coherent optical and radar imaging systems

Tyler S. Ralston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory

This talk will juxtapose an emerging broadband optical imaging technology, interferometric synthetic aperture microscopy (ISAM), with the well-known synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a method for imaging with millimeter electromagnetic waves. ISAM is a new technique for 3-D noninvasive biophotonic imaging. The hardware for ISAM is derived from the widely-used optical coherence tomography (OCT), a low-coherence interferometric (LCI) ranging technique with micron resolution deep (1-2 mm) within biological tissues. Both methods take advantage of the fact that the data are samples of a linear functional of the fields, and that the fields are connected to the object susceptibility function through Maxwell's equations. The susceptibility function, or a filtered version of it, is determined in terms of the known data by solving this system of equations. New advances in algorithms and computing hardware have enabled real-time ISAM – an important step toward enabling widespread clinical use.

Tyler S. Ralston received his Bachelors degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Dayton (2000). Prior to earning his Masters and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois (2006), he worked as an electrical engineer in the medical products industry at Battelle Memorial Institute (1998-2001). After his PhD, he worked as a post doctorate research scientist at the Beckman Institute (2006-2007) developing optical systems and algorithms for biomedical research applications. In 2007, he began working in his current position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory developing algorithms for radar and optical systems.

Meeting will be held at MIT Lincoln Laboratory A-Café, 244 Wood Street, Lexington, MA. For directions please see:http://www.ll.mit.edu/about/map.html

For more information, contact Antennas & Propagation chair, Gregory Charvat at Gregory.charvat@ll.mit.edu

Ultrawideband Mini Offset Bicone Antenna, slides from J. Sandora's talk on 4/14/2010

I have posted the slides from John Sandroa's talk on how to design, model, then fabricate and test a UWB Mini-Offset Bicone Antenna, here.

John has received many inquiries about his talk. Feel free to post your comments or questions here on the blog.

seeking ideas for August and September speakers & upcoming meetings

Hi AP-S Boston community,

We are seeking ideas for speakers to present at our upcoming meetings. Do you have someone in mind who you would like to hear from? Or, do you have a topic that you would like to learn more about?

Please post your ideas on the blog.

See the attached figure for the current lineup of speakers from now until July. Thank you for your inputs,

Gregory L. Charvat

Chair of IEEE AP-S Boston Chapter.

Our very own John Sandora, Past Chair will be presenting: Ultrawideband (UWB) Antenna

Please come and cheer on our past Chair, John Sandora, as he provides us a glimpse of one of the more fascinating antennas that he has developed recently. For those of you who are interested in ultrawideband you will want to check this out.

6:00 PM, Wednesday, 14 April

Ultrawideband (UWB) Antenna

John Sandora, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

An ultrawideband (UWB) antenna has been developed for operation in the 200 MHz to 18 GHz frequency range. This antenna is a new type — a miniaturized offset bicone/dipole design that allows for vertically polarized omnidirectional coverage over an instantaneous 90:1 bandwidth. Numerical electromagnetic simulations with the finite-element method (FEM) were used to investigate the antenna concept and optimize geometry prior to fabrication. Measurements both in a compact range and in an anechoic chamber confirm the antenna’s performance.

John Sandora is an engineer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s “Advanced RF Sensing and Exploitation” group. Mr. Sandora received Bachelor’s degrees in physics and electrical engineering in 2004 and a MSEE in 2005 from The Ohio State University. As a Graduate Research Assistant he constructed a state-of-the-art compact range radar system which can measure the scattering and radiation characteristics of objects as large as twelve square feet. His thesis topic, “Design of the ElectroScience Lab’s 0.4 – 100 GHz Compact Range Radar System” won Outstanding Thesis in 2005. After joining MIT Lincoln Laboratory, he has continued working on radar, antenna design, RF systems analysis, and other advanced applied electromagnetics.

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.

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 John Sandora (jsandora@ll.mit.edu).

Geoscience and Remote Sensing + AP-S Present: Ensemble Detection and Analysis A Means for Characterizing and Modeling Non-Stationary Processes

The week of April 12 is a busy one for IEEE AP-S. We have a Joint meeting with GRSS on Monday, April 12, please come and join us for this fascinating talk:

Geoscience and Remote Sensing; and Antennas & Propagation Societies

5:30 PM Refreshments; 6:00 PM Presentation, Monday, 12 April

Ensemble Detection and Analysis A Means for Characterizing and Modeling Non-Stationary Processes

Dr. Paul Racette, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Everything changes across some temporal or spatial scale, and the lack of well-developed techniques for modeling changing statistical moments in our observations has stymied the application of stochastic process theory for many scientific and engineering applications. Non-linear effects of the observation methodology, i.e. the role of the observer, present one of the most perplexing aspects to modeling non-stationary processes. For example, such non-linear effects are problematic when averaging high-resolution radar data to match courser resolution radiometer data in combined retrieval algorithms. These limitations were encountered when modeling temporal effects of calibration frequency on the performance of a radiometer with non-stationary receiver fluctuations. A microwave radiometer is frequently calibrated to correct for fluctuations in the receiver. A radiometer typically samples a set of stable calibration noise references from which the receiver response is estimated. Algorithms are usually applied to suppress receiver fluctuations from the estimates of the measurements. Analysis has shown that algorithms designed to accentuate temporal effects in the receiver response yield information about the non-stationary properties of the receiver fluctuations. Ensemble Detection and Analysis extends this concept to the study of non-stationary signals as a form of noise assisted data analysis. This presentation will describe a novel approach to analyzing and modeling non-stationary processes using methods derived from techniques for analyzing and modeling radiometer systems including their calibration architecture and will conclude with musings on the ontology of a new Observation Theory.

Dr. Paul Racette is a member of the senior technical staff at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where he has worked since 1990. He has conceived, developed and successfully deployed several microwave to submillimeterwave remote sensors. He has participated in and led numerous field campaigns around the world. For his accomplishments in developing remote sensing technologies, Dr. Racette received NASA’s Medal for Exceptional Service and was the first recipient of NASA Goddard’s Engineering Achievement Award. In 2005 he became a NASA Administrator’s Fellow. Dr. Racette is an observation theorist with research interests that include the study and modeling of non-stationary processes, calibration methodologies and the role of consciousness in the evolution of the universe. Dr. Racette is an active volunteer for the IEEE, serves as Editor in Chief of IEEE’s www.earthzine.org and is an ex-officio AdCom member of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. He received the Bachelor (1988) and Master (1990) of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Kansas and in 2005 completed his Doctor of Science in electrical engineering from The George Washington University. Dr. Racette is committed to the exploration and promotion of diversity in the workplace and serves as the co-Vice Chair of Goddard’s Native American Advisory Committee.

This meeting of the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Chapter will be held at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory cafeteria. Refreshments will be served at 5:30 PM with the technical meeting starting at 6:00 PM. A no-host dinner with the speaker will follow at a local restaurant. Directions to Lincoln Laboratory, 244 Wood St., Lexington: From I-95 (Rt. 128), take Exit 31B (Rt. 4-225) toward Bedford. At first stoplight, take jug handle left (bear right to take a left) onto Hartwell Ave. Proceed ~1 mile and take left on Wood St. Take first right to Lincoln Laboratory entrance. After passing guard, follow road around to parking lot on the right. Park. Walk to area between the main entrance and the parking garage and proceed down staircase (left side of main entrance) to the cafeteria entrance. For more information contact Bill Blackwell at (781) 981-7973 or wjb@ll.mit.edu

The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT)

Quick Reminder:

6:00 PM, Wednesday, 24 March

The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT)

F. Peter Schloerb, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) is a 50m-diameter millimeter-wave (mmW) radio telescope that is under construction on the 4600m summit of Sierra Negra, an extinct volcano in the Mexican state of Puebla, by a bi-national collaboration led by the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE) and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. This telescope has achieved first-light at cm wavelengths and will soon achieve first-light at mmW, with full operation scheduled to begin in 2012.

This talk, presented on behalf of the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) project team, describes the status and near-term plans for the telescope and its initial instrumentation. The LMT is a bi-national collaboration between Mexico and the USA, led by the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE) and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, to construct, commission and operate a 50m-diameter millimeter-wave radio telescope. Construction activities are nearly complete at the 4600m LMT site on the summit of Sierra Negra, an extinct volcano in the Mexican state of Puebla. Full movement of the telescope, under computer control in both azimuth and elevation, has been achieved. First-light at centimeter wavelengths on astronomical sources was obtained in November 2006. Installation of precision surface segments for millimeter-wave operation is underway, with the inner 32m-diameter of the surface now complete.

The project plan was revised in 2008 to proceed to first light with the inner 32m of the antenna while the remaining surface is being completed and prepared for installation. We hope to complete this first light objective in 2010 and carry out some initial scientific work. The remainder of the antenna surface is expected to be completed and installed within about one year after this "first light science."

F. Peter Schloerb is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he serves also as Director of the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory and Project Director for UMass's participation in the Large Millimeter Telescope Project.

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.

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 John Sandora (jsandora@ll.mit.edu).

Slides from: Remote Sensing of the Geospace Environment Using Active and Passive Radio Techniques

This was one of the most interesting talks I have seen on the physics behind our geospace environment. We thank Frank Lind for his efforts in putting this fascinating presentation together.

The slides are posted here. Feel free to show your friends and invite others to our next IEEE AP-S Boston meeting.

For more information about the MIT Haystack Observatory and their ongoing atmospheric science research please visit their website.

See you at the next meeting,

Greg

Antenna and Radar Cross Section Measurements

Hi everyone -

Here is a video on antenna and radar cross section measurements put together by LabTV. LabTV produces educational "webisodes" for middle and high school students through the National Defense Education Program. This segment highlights the compact range facility at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.

John Sandora




Bounce Back
Using Radar, the Answer Is in the Echo

RADAR -- which stands for radio detection and ranging -- is a technique that's used all around us in everyday life. It can determine the presence and the velocity of an object such as an airplane or even a person.

Radar works via a transmitter that shoots a pulse of electromagnetic energy. The pulse travels to a target, bounces off, and then the radar listens for the echo off that target.

Engineers at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Mass., build the most advanced radar systems in the world. With the help of a special testing chamber, these scientists can test their radar antennas indoors -- before taking them out into the real world.