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NuWaves' Radio Frequency (RF) Design and Wireless Engineering Application Notes
[Papers]
[PI Attenuators]
[T Attenuators]
[Other RF Design Information]
[Standard Frequency
Designators]
[Acronym Help]
Papers
"Fiber Optic RF Distribution (RF)"
[Scott McLaughlin, Jeff Wells, Tim
Wurth]
Abstract:
The use of fiber optics is considered herein as means to
distribute Radio Frequency (RF) signals across Printed Circuit
Boards (PCB). The use of fiber optics is studied with an
emphasis on reducing inter-board Electromagnetic Interference
(EMI). High performance RF circuits are especially sensitive to
EMI and other Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), resulting in
poor circuit-to-circuit isolation, spurious signals, additional
filtering requirements, and increased shielding constraints.
Fiber optic cable has the beneficial characteristics of
extremely low cross-coupling and is not conductive along its
length; this equates to tremendous promise as a means for
distributing RF signals with limited EMI/RFI. The innovative
concept is applicable to PCBs which have high level of RF
signals traversing near multiple sensitive RF circuits.
"L and S Band Tunable Filters Provide Dramatic
Improvements in Telemetry Systems"
[Tim Wurth, et al]
Abstract:
Meeting the filtering requirements for telemetry transmitters
and receivers can be challenging. Telemetry systems use
filters to eliminate unwanted spurious or mixing products.
The use of tunable microwave filters for both L and S Band can
improve filter selectivity and provide low insertion losses in
the filter passband. Along with meeting specifications, these
microwave filters with the ability to tune an octave, reduce
size and cost by the reduction of multiple, fixed-frequency
filters. As size, weight and power are often a concern
with aeronautical telemetry systems, this paper will demonstrate
that microstrip tunable filters can be small in size and use
minimal power. Telemetry transmitters are subject to difficult
spurious emission and interference specifications and require
selective filters to eliminate spurious signals before the final
amplification. Telemetry receivers on the other hand are
subject to intense Image and Local Oscillator (LO) rejection
requirements and demand low insertion loss for front-end
filtering. Low insertion loss filtering before the Low Noise
Amplifier (LNA) circuit limits degradation to the system noise
figure (NF). By using different filter topologies and
state-of-the-art, high-Q varactor diodes, tunable microwave
filters can be optimized for two different functions. The
two functions emphasize either low insertion loss or
selectivity. An important design consideration with
tunable filters, when compared to typical fixed frequency
filters, is the degraded intermodulation performance. This is
largely due to the non-linear behavior of the varactor diodes.
This
paper describes the benefits and limitations of microwave
tunable filter architectures suitable for both aeronautical
telemetry transmitters and telemetry receivers. Information on
the computer modeling of varactor diodes will be covered as a
critical part of the design. Potential design considerations for
microwave tunable filters will also be covered. Through the use
of simulation software and filter prototypes, this paper
presents dramatically improved filter performance applicable to
telemetry transmitters and receivers.
"Telemetry System Sustainment"
[Mike Trimble, Tim Wurth, et al]
Abstract:
Tactical training ranges provide an opportunity for
all of the armed forces to assess operational readiness.
To perform this task the various training ranges have deployed
numerous telemetry systems. The current design efforts in
place to upgrade the capabilities and unify the ranges under one
telemetry system do not address the training ranges' need to
maintain their training capability with the legacy systems that
have been deployed until the new systems are ready.
The purpose of this paper is to present two successful system
sustainment efforts with different approaches to serve as models
for preserving the current level of training range capabilities
until the next generation of telemetry systems are deployed.
While the two programs illustrated here deal primarily with the
transponder components of the systems, these same methods can be
applied to the other aspects of legacy telemetry system
sustainment efforts.
"A Global Positioning System (GPS) Interference
Electronics Support Measure (ESM) Payload System for Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAVs)"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Modern
battlefields depend on GPS for precision navigation and timing.
Unfortunately, GPS signals are very-low level and GPS
interference, both intentional and unintentional, can severely
degrade GPS performance. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), which
have proven their value on the battlefield, rely heavily on GPS
for navigation and flight integrity. Key to continued mission
success for UAVs is enhanced anti-jamming capabilities. A
revealing test of anti-jamming performance for a UAV is to
maintain GPS synchronization, while accurately locating a GPS
jammer. A small, modular ESM payload is needed to supply
anti-jamming performance for the UAV and secondarily, to use DF
techniques to locate the GPS jammer. This paper investigates a
small, low-power, low-cost, modular solution to reducing the
vulnerability to jamming of UAVs by leveraging commercial
off-the-shelf technology. A miniaturized GPS antenna
configuration that both lowers susceptibility to GPS jamming, and
also allows accurate determination of the GPS jammer’s location,
is presented. This GPS antenna arrangement consists of two
GPS antenna arrays, one positioned on the top of the UAV (facing
skyward) and one positioned on the underside of the UAV (facing
the ground). The top antenna array acquires and tracks a
minimum of 4 GPS satellites for accurate positioning and timing.
The bottom antenna array is used to detect and locate GPS
interference, and in coordination with the top array, limits
susceptibility to GPS interference. The first action upon
detecting GPS interference is to alter the reception pattern of
the top GPS antenna array to reduce the amount of interference
processed by the GPS receiver. Simultaneously, sampled data
from both antenna arrays are used to monitor the effect of the
interference and calculate the position of the jammer.
"Employing a Communications Payload on an Unmanned
Underwater Vehicle (UUV) for Harbor Monitoring and Homeland Defense"
[Jeff Wells, Mark Manning, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
The Homeland Defense community is
increasing its focus on port security and harbor protection.
Rising to the challenge, the U.S. Coast Guard is tasked with
monitoring and protecting our harbors where commercial container
ships enter. Tracking of the onboard containers is of great
concern to the protectors of the waterfront. A system capable of
identifying the number of containers onboard the vessel, when the
containers are added or removed, contents of the containers, etc.,
will significantly reduce the potential for a security problem by
providing essential information to the Coast Guard or other port
security so that they can decide whether or not pre-boarding is
necessary. That is, boarding the ship and inspecting the cargo
while still at a safe distance from the harbor. This paper
presents a system that utilizes transmitters embedded on the
containers which incorporate unique ID codes identifying the
container, its history, and other information. A
Communication/Navigation Aid (C/NA) type vehicle/buoy concept,
presently being developed by Sippican (under contract to the
Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of the Autonomous
Operations – Future Naval Capabilities (AO-FNC) program),
positioned at sea, would include a payload of NuWaves’
communication transceivers able to receive the cargo container’s
transmitted ID and forward this information by RF link to a ground
station. The Port Authority and/or the Coast Guard would then
utilize the information to make an assessment of the vessel prior
to port entry. Although, this paper illustrates a scenario
applicable to the cargo shipping industry, it is also applicable
to other homeland defense areas such as unattended open ocean
force protection, drug and law enforcement, and environmental
monitoring.
"Shielding Effectiveness:
Principles and Calculations"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Components and printed circuit boards are
dramatically being reduced in size. The smaller size
incorporates new design challenges to RF engineers induced from
radiating elements located near, and adjacent to, sensitive
devices and low noise circuits (i.e. synthesizer PLL and LNA
circuitry) Understanding the principles of effective shielding
will mitigate the interference and significantly reduce
desensitization issues of critical RF circuitry.
"A Survey of COTS Wireless Transceiver Solutions for
Unmanned / Unattended Homeland Defense Systems"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells, Mike Trimble]
Abstract:
As the war on
terrorism continues abroad, the need to maintain security at home
remains a major concern. Every aspect of the security effort
can benefit from rapid information transfer. Advances in
Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) radios make them valuable in
applications ranging from deployed sensors on unsecured borders, to
organizing an emergency response team. Additionally, the
reduced cost and availability of these transceivers make them a
viable alternative to custom developments. As an example, COTS
radios can serve as the communication element in Unattended Ground
Sensor (UGS) and munitions systems. Other applications include
networked sonobuoys and networked RFID tracking. An additional
advantage of COTS solutions is that they are available in a small
form factor. They have extremely small mechanical outlines and are
easily installed in systems requiring miniature designs and light
payloads such as man-pack emplaced radios for the Army’s Future
Combat System (FCS), as well as missions carried out by Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The availability of the
COTS radios result in a low-cost alternative for communication links
that are applicable to military and Homeland Defense projects. They
provide an easily obtainable, low-cost radio alternative enabling
quick design cycles to meet mission timeliness. COTS solutions
eliminate months from a typical design cycle and have many features
already implemented such as ad-hoc routing and encryption.
This enables robust hardware to be fielded quickly when a new need
arises. The focus of this paper is to identify different
COTS modules that can efficiently and cost effectively be applied to
these and other various applications.
"A Miniature Disposable Radio (MiDR) for Unattended Ground Sensor
Systems (UGSS) and Munitions"
[Jeff Wells, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
Unattended and tactical sensors are
used by the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) and Objective
Force Warrior (OFW) to detect and identify enemy targets on the
battlefield. The radios being developed as part of the Networked
Sensors for the Objective Force (NSOF) are too costly and too
large to deploy in missions requiring throw-away hardware. A
low-cost miniature radio is required to satisfy the communication
needs for unmanned sensor and munitions systems that are deployed
in a disposable manner. A low cost miniature disposable
communications suite is leveraged using the commercial
off-the-shelf market and employing miniature universal frequency
conversion architecture. Employing the technology of universal
frequency architecture in a commercially available communication
unit delivers a robust disposable transceiver that can operate at
virtually any frequency. A low-cost RF communication radio has
applicability in the commercial, homeland defense, military, and
other government markets. Specific uses include perimeter
monitoring, infrastructure defense, unattended ground sensors,
tactical sensors, and border patrol. This paper describes a
low-cost radio architecture to meet the requirements of throw-away
radios that can be easily modified or tuned to virtually any
operating frequency required for the specific mission.
"Successful Project Management - Being a Member of
the Team"
[Jeff Wells]Abstract:
Project Managers are required to pull together personnel to form a team
but quite often fail to perform as a team member themselves. Team forming
rituals fail at the hand of one individual, the project manager himself.
Although schooling, certification, and other educational attributes
contribute to the knowledge base of a project manger it does not
necessarily breed successful project managers. Triumphant project mangers
have inherent skill sets that provide team members with the required
corridor for them to be successful and thrive in the project’s
environment. This paper looks at what being a true member of the project
team represents and the inherent skill sets of victorious project
managers.
"Power Amplifier Design: Exploiting Today’s
Technology"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Typical VHF/UHF power amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth
and efficiency. The inefficiency causes an excessive use of costly prime
power, which equates to significant heat dissipation, and in turn results in
unsatisfactory size and weight form factors. By exploiting present
state-of-the-art interrelated technology such as broadband impedance matching,
semiconductor properties, amplifier design techniques, etc., a realistic high
power RF Amplifier design can be optimized to include both attributes of high
efficiency and very broadband capability.
"Power Amplifier Requirements for Next Generation
Radios"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
The Armed Services is moving to software
capable radios, which allow the radio operation to be changed via software.
This dramatic increase in flexibility can only be realized if the RF power
amplifiers are also flexible. Present power amplifier technology does not
satisfy the needs of the evolving military requirements. Specifically, power
amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth. This equates to
numerous fielded amplifiers and unsatisfactory implementation and
maintenance requirements. Recent initiatives target innovative wide band and
flexible power amplifier techniques to support next generation radios.
Innovative techniques are required to develop wide band dynamically
controlled power amplifiers that are scalable within the 2MHz to 2GHz
spectrum that ultimately increase communications capabilities.
Abstract: The use of fiber optics is considered herein as means to distribute Radio Frequency (RF) signals across Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). The use of fiber optics is studied with an emphasis on reducing inter-board Electromagnetic Interference (EMI). High performance RF circuits are especially sensitive to EMI and other Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), resulting in poor circuit-to-circuit isolation, spurious signals, additional filtering requirements, and increased shielding constraints. Fiber optic cable has the beneficial characteristics of extremely low cross-coupling and is not conductive along its length; this equates to tremendous promise as a means for distributing RF signals with limited EMI/RFI. The innovative concept is applicable to PCBs which have high level of RF signals traversing near multiple sensitive RF circuits.
"L and S Band Tunable Filters Provide Dramatic
Improvements in Telemetry Systems"
[Tim Wurth, et al]
Abstract:
Meeting the filtering requirements for telemetry transmitters
and receivers can be challenging. Telemetry systems use
filters to eliminate unwanted spurious or mixing products.
The use of tunable microwave filters for both L and S Band can
improve filter selectivity and provide low insertion losses in
the filter passband. Along with meeting specifications, these
microwave filters with the ability to tune an octave, reduce
size and cost by the reduction of multiple, fixed-frequency
filters. As size, weight and power are often a concern
with aeronautical telemetry systems, this paper will demonstrate
that microstrip tunable filters can be small in size and use
minimal power. Telemetry transmitters are subject to difficult
spurious emission and interference specifications and require
selective filters to eliminate spurious signals before the final
amplification. Telemetry receivers on the other hand are
subject to intense Image and Local Oscillator (LO) rejection
requirements and demand low insertion loss for front-end
filtering. Low insertion loss filtering before the Low Noise
Amplifier (LNA) circuit limits degradation to the system noise
figure (NF). By using different filter topologies and
state-of-the-art, high-Q varactor diodes, tunable microwave
filters can be optimized for two different functions. The
two functions emphasize either low insertion loss or
selectivity. An important design consideration with
tunable filters, when compared to typical fixed frequency
filters, is the degraded intermodulation performance. This is
largely due to the non-linear behavior of the varactor diodes.
This
paper describes the benefits and limitations of microwave
tunable filter architectures suitable for both aeronautical
telemetry transmitters and telemetry receivers. Information on
the computer modeling of varactor diodes will be covered as a
critical part of the design. Potential design considerations for
microwave tunable filters will also be covered. Through the use
of simulation software and filter prototypes, this paper
presents dramatically improved filter performance applicable to
telemetry transmitters and receivers.
"Telemetry System Sustainment"
[Mike Trimble, Tim Wurth, et al]
Abstract:
Tactical training ranges provide an opportunity for
all of the armed forces to assess operational readiness.
To perform this task the various training ranges have deployed
numerous telemetry systems. The current design efforts in
place to upgrade the capabilities and unify the ranges under one
telemetry system do not address the training ranges' need to
maintain their training capability with the legacy systems that
have been deployed until the new systems are ready.
The purpose of this paper is to present two successful system
sustainment efforts with different approaches to serve as models
for preserving the current level of training range capabilities
until the next generation of telemetry systems are deployed.
While the two programs illustrated here deal primarily with the
transponder components of the systems, these same methods can be
applied to the other aspects of legacy telemetry system
sustainment efforts.
"A Global Positioning System (GPS) Interference
Electronics Support Measure (ESM) Payload System for Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAVs)"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Modern
battlefields depend on GPS for precision navigation and timing.
Unfortunately, GPS signals are very-low level and GPS
interference, both intentional and unintentional, can severely
degrade GPS performance. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), which
have proven their value on the battlefield, rely heavily on GPS
for navigation and flight integrity. Key to continued mission
success for UAVs is enhanced anti-jamming capabilities. A
revealing test of anti-jamming performance for a UAV is to
maintain GPS synchronization, while accurately locating a GPS
jammer. A small, modular ESM payload is needed to supply
anti-jamming performance for the UAV and secondarily, to use DF
techniques to locate the GPS jammer. This paper investigates a
small, low-power, low-cost, modular solution to reducing the
vulnerability to jamming of UAVs by leveraging commercial
off-the-shelf technology. A miniaturized GPS antenna
configuration that both lowers susceptibility to GPS jamming, and
also allows accurate determination of the GPS jammer’s location,
is presented. This GPS antenna arrangement consists of two
GPS antenna arrays, one positioned on the top of the UAV (facing
skyward) and one positioned on the underside of the UAV (facing
the ground). The top antenna array acquires and tracks a
minimum of 4 GPS satellites for accurate positioning and timing.
The bottom antenna array is used to detect and locate GPS
interference, and in coordination with the top array, limits
susceptibility to GPS interference. The first action upon
detecting GPS interference is to alter the reception pattern of
the top GPS antenna array to reduce the amount of interference
processed by the GPS receiver. Simultaneously, sampled data
from both antenna arrays are used to monitor the effect of the
interference and calculate the position of the jammer.
"Employing a Communications Payload on an Unmanned
Underwater Vehicle (UUV) for Harbor Monitoring and Homeland Defense"
[Jeff Wells, Mark Manning, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
The Homeland Defense community is
increasing its focus on port security and harbor protection.
Rising to the challenge, the U.S. Coast Guard is tasked with
monitoring and protecting our harbors where commercial container
ships enter. Tracking of the onboard containers is of great
concern to the protectors of the waterfront. A system capable of
identifying the number of containers onboard the vessel, when the
containers are added or removed, contents of the containers, etc.,
will significantly reduce the potential for a security problem by
providing essential information to the Coast Guard or other port
security so that they can decide whether or not pre-boarding is
necessary. That is, boarding the ship and inspecting the cargo
while still at a safe distance from the harbor. This paper
presents a system that utilizes transmitters embedded on the
containers which incorporate unique ID codes identifying the
container, its history, and other information. A
Communication/Navigation Aid (C/NA) type vehicle/buoy concept,
presently being developed by Sippican (under contract to the
Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of the Autonomous
Operations – Future Naval Capabilities (AO-FNC) program),
positioned at sea, would include a payload of NuWaves’
communication transceivers able to receive the cargo container’s
transmitted ID and forward this information by RF link to a ground
station. The Port Authority and/or the Coast Guard would then
utilize the information to make an assessment of the vessel prior
to port entry. Although, this paper illustrates a scenario
applicable to the cargo shipping industry, it is also applicable
to other homeland defense areas such as unattended open ocean
force protection, drug and law enforcement, and environmental
monitoring.
"Shielding Effectiveness:
Principles and Calculations"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Components and printed circuit boards are
dramatically being reduced in size. The smaller size
incorporates new design challenges to RF engineers induced from
radiating elements located near, and adjacent to, sensitive
devices and low noise circuits (i.e. synthesizer PLL and LNA
circuitry) Understanding the principles of effective shielding
will mitigate the interference and significantly reduce
desensitization issues of critical RF circuitry.
"A Survey of COTS Wireless Transceiver Solutions for
Unmanned / Unattended Homeland Defense Systems"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells, Mike Trimble]
Abstract:
As the war on
terrorism continues abroad, the need to maintain security at home
remains a major concern. Every aspect of the security effort
can benefit from rapid information transfer. Advances in
Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) radios make them valuable in
applications ranging from deployed sensors on unsecured borders, to
organizing an emergency response team. Additionally, the
reduced cost and availability of these transceivers make them a
viable alternative to custom developments. As an example, COTS
radios can serve as the communication element in Unattended Ground
Sensor (UGS) and munitions systems. Other applications include
networked sonobuoys and networked RFID tracking. An additional
advantage of COTS solutions is that they are available in a small
form factor. They have extremely small mechanical outlines and are
easily installed in systems requiring miniature designs and light
payloads such as man-pack emplaced radios for the Army’s Future
Combat System (FCS), as well as missions carried out by Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The availability of the
COTS radios result in a low-cost alternative for communication links
that are applicable to military and Homeland Defense projects. They
provide an easily obtainable, low-cost radio alternative enabling
quick design cycles to meet mission timeliness. COTS solutions
eliminate months from a typical design cycle and have many features
already implemented such as ad-hoc routing and encryption.
This enables robust hardware to be fielded quickly when a new need
arises. The focus of this paper is to identify different
COTS modules that can efficiently and cost effectively be applied to
these and other various applications.
"A Miniature Disposable Radio (MiDR) for Unattended Ground Sensor
Systems (UGSS) and Munitions"
[Jeff Wells, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
Unattended and tactical sensors are
used by the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) and Objective
Force Warrior (OFW) to detect and identify enemy targets on the
battlefield. The radios being developed as part of the Networked
Sensors for the Objective Force (NSOF) are too costly and too
large to deploy in missions requiring throw-away hardware. A
low-cost miniature radio is required to satisfy the communication
needs for unmanned sensor and munitions systems that are deployed
in a disposable manner. A low cost miniature disposable
communications suite is leveraged using the commercial
off-the-shelf market and employing miniature universal frequency
conversion architecture. Employing the technology of universal
frequency architecture in a commercially available communication
unit delivers a robust disposable transceiver that can operate at
virtually any frequency. A low-cost RF communication radio has
applicability in the commercial, homeland defense, military, and
other government markets. Specific uses include perimeter
monitoring, infrastructure defense, unattended ground sensors,
tactical sensors, and border patrol. This paper describes a
low-cost radio architecture to meet the requirements of throw-away
radios that can be easily modified or tuned to virtually any
operating frequency required for the specific mission.
"Successful Project Management - Being a Member of
the Team"
[Jeff Wells]Abstract:
Project Managers are required to pull together personnel to form a team
but quite often fail to perform as a team member themselves. Team forming
rituals fail at the hand of one individual, the project manager himself.
Although schooling, certification, and other educational attributes
contribute to the knowledge base of a project manger it does not
necessarily breed successful project managers. Triumphant project mangers
have inherent skill sets that provide team members with the required
corridor for them to be successful and thrive in the project’s
environment. This paper looks at what being a true member of the project
team represents and the inherent skill sets of victorious project
managers.
"Power Amplifier Design: Exploiting Today’s
Technology"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Typical VHF/UHF power amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth
and efficiency. The inefficiency causes an excessive use of costly prime
power, which equates to significant heat dissipation, and in turn results in
unsatisfactory size and weight form factors. By exploiting present
state-of-the-art interrelated technology such as broadband impedance matching,
semiconductor properties, amplifier design techniques, etc., a realistic high
power RF Amplifier design can be optimized to include both attributes of high
efficiency and very broadband capability.
"Power Amplifier Requirements for Next Generation
Radios"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
The Armed Services is moving to software
capable radios, which allow the radio operation to be changed via software.
This dramatic increase in flexibility can only be realized if the RF power
amplifiers are also flexible. Present power amplifier technology does not
satisfy the needs of the evolving military requirements. Specifically, power
amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth. This equates to
numerous fielded amplifiers and unsatisfactory implementation and
maintenance requirements. Recent initiatives target innovative wide band and
flexible power amplifier techniques to support next generation radios.
Innovative techniques are required to develop wide band dynamically
controlled power amplifiers that are scalable within the 2MHz to 2GHz
spectrum that ultimately increase communications capabilities.
Abstract: Meeting the filtering requirements for telemetry transmitters and receivers can be challenging. Telemetry systems use filters to eliminate unwanted spurious or mixing products. The use of tunable microwave filters for both L and S Band can improve filter selectivity and provide low insertion losses in the filter passband. Along with meeting specifications, these microwave filters with the ability to tune an octave, reduce size and cost by the reduction of multiple, fixed-frequency filters. As size, weight and power are often a concern with aeronautical telemetry systems, this paper will demonstrate that microstrip tunable filters can be small in size and use minimal power. Telemetry transmitters are subject to difficult spurious emission and interference specifications and require selective filters to eliminate spurious signals before the final amplification. Telemetry receivers on the other hand are subject to intense Image and Local Oscillator (LO) rejection requirements and demand low insertion loss for front-end filtering. Low insertion loss filtering before the Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) circuit limits degradation to the system noise figure (NF). By using different filter topologies and state-of-the-art, high-Q varactor diodes, tunable microwave filters can be optimized for two different functions. The two functions emphasize either low insertion loss or selectivity. An important design consideration with tunable filters, when compared to typical fixed frequency filters, is the degraded intermodulation performance. This is largely due to the non-linear behavior of the varactor diodes. This paper describes the benefits and limitations of microwave tunable filter architectures suitable for both aeronautical telemetry transmitters and telemetry receivers. Information on the computer modeling of varactor diodes will be covered as a critical part of the design. Potential design considerations for microwave tunable filters will also be covered. Through the use of simulation software and filter prototypes, this paper presents dramatically improved filter performance applicable to telemetry transmitters and receivers.
"Telemetry System Sustainment"
[Mike Trimble, Tim Wurth, et al]
Abstract:
Tactical training ranges provide an opportunity for
all of the armed forces to assess operational readiness.
To perform this task the various training ranges have deployed
numerous telemetry systems. The current design efforts in
place to upgrade the capabilities and unify the ranges under one
telemetry system do not address the training ranges' need to
maintain their training capability with the legacy systems that
have been deployed until the new systems are ready.
The purpose of this paper is to present two successful system
sustainment efforts with different approaches to serve as models
for preserving the current level of training range capabilities
until the next generation of telemetry systems are deployed.
While the two programs illustrated here deal primarily with the
transponder components of the systems, these same methods can be
applied to the other aspects of legacy telemetry system
sustainment efforts.
"A Global Positioning System (GPS) Interference
Electronics Support Measure (ESM) Payload System for Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAVs)"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Modern
battlefields depend on GPS for precision navigation and timing.
Unfortunately, GPS signals are very-low level and GPS
interference, both intentional and unintentional, can severely
degrade GPS performance. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), which
have proven their value on the battlefield, rely heavily on GPS
for navigation and flight integrity. Key to continued mission
success for UAVs is enhanced anti-jamming capabilities. A
revealing test of anti-jamming performance for a UAV is to
maintain GPS synchronization, while accurately locating a GPS
jammer. A small, modular ESM payload is needed to supply
anti-jamming performance for the UAV and secondarily, to use DF
techniques to locate the GPS jammer. This paper investigates a
small, low-power, low-cost, modular solution to reducing the
vulnerability to jamming of UAVs by leveraging commercial
off-the-shelf technology. A miniaturized GPS antenna
configuration that both lowers susceptibility to GPS jamming, and
also allows accurate determination of the GPS jammer’s location,
is presented. This GPS antenna arrangement consists of two
GPS antenna arrays, one positioned on the top of the UAV (facing
skyward) and one positioned on the underside of the UAV (facing
the ground). The top antenna array acquires and tracks a
minimum of 4 GPS satellites for accurate positioning and timing.
The bottom antenna array is used to detect and locate GPS
interference, and in coordination with the top array, limits
susceptibility to GPS interference. The first action upon
detecting GPS interference is to alter the reception pattern of
the top GPS antenna array to reduce the amount of interference
processed by the GPS receiver. Simultaneously, sampled data
from both antenna arrays are used to monitor the effect of the
interference and calculate the position of the jammer.
"Employing a Communications Payload on an Unmanned
Underwater Vehicle (UUV) for Harbor Monitoring and Homeland Defense"
[Jeff Wells, Mark Manning, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
The Homeland Defense community is
increasing its focus on port security and harbor protection.
Rising to the challenge, the U.S. Coast Guard is tasked with
monitoring and protecting our harbors where commercial container
ships enter. Tracking of the onboard containers is of great
concern to the protectors of the waterfront. A system capable of
identifying the number of containers onboard the vessel, when the
containers are added or removed, contents of the containers, etc.,
will significantly reduce the potential for a security problem by
providing essential information to the Coast Guard or other port
security so that they can decide whether or not pre-boarding is
necessary. That is, boarding the ship and inspecting the cargo
while still at a safe distance from the harbor. This paper
presents a system that utilizes transmitters embedded on the
containers which incorporate unique ID codes identifying the
container, its history, and other information. A
Communication/Navigation Aid (C/NA) type vehicle/buoy concept,
presently being developed by Sippican (under contract to the
Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of the Autonomous
Operations – Future Naval Capabilities (AO-FNC) program),
positioned at sea, would include a payload of NuWaves’
communication transceivers able to receive the cargo container’s
transmitted ID and forward this information by RF link to a ground
station. The Port Authority and/or the Coast Guard would then
utilize the information to make an assessment of the vessel prior
to port entry. Although, this paper illustrates a scenario
applicable to the cargo shipping industry, it is also applicable
to other homeland defense areas such as unattended open ocean
force protection, drug and law enforcement, and environmental
monitoring.
"Shielding Effectiveness:
Principles and Calculations"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Components and printed circuit boards are
dramatically being reduced in size. The smaller size
incorporates new design challenges to RF engineers induced from
radiating elements located near, and adjacent to, sensitive
devices and low noise circuits (i.e. synthesizer PLL and LNA
circuitry) Understanding the principles of effective shielding
will mitigate the interference and significantly reduce
desensitization issues of critical RF circuitry.
"A Survey of COTS Wireless Transceiver Solutions for
Unmanned / Unattended Homeland Defense Systems"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells, Mike Trimble]
Abstract:
As the war on
terrorism continues abroad, the need to maintain security at home
remains a major concern. Every aspect of the security effort
can benefit from rapid information transfer. Advances in
Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) radios make them valuable in
applications ranging from deployed sensors on unsecured borders, to
organizing an emergency response team. Additionally, the
reduced cost and availability of these transceivers make them a
viable alternative to custom developments. As an example, COTS
radios can serve as the communication element in Unattended Ground
Sensor (UGS) and munitions systems. Other applications include
networked sonobuoys and networked RFID tracking. An additional
advantage of COTS solutions is that they are available in a small
form factor. They have extremely small mechanical outlines and are
easily installed in systems requiring miniature designs and light
payloads such as man-pack emplaced radios for the Army’s Future
Combat System (FCS), as well as missions carried out by Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The availability of the
COTS radios result in a low-cost alternative for communication links
that are applicable to military and Homeland Defense projects. They
provide an easily obtainable, low-cost radio alternative enabling
quick design cycles to meet mission timeliness. COTS solutions
eliminate months from a typical design cycle and have many features
already implemented such as ad-hoc routing and encryption.
This enables robust hardware to be fielded quickly when a new need
arises. The focus of this paper is to identify different
COTS modules that can efficiently and cost effectively be applied to
these and other various applications.
"A Miniature Disposable Radio (MiDR) for Unattended Ground Sensor
Systems (UGSS) and Munitions"
[Jeff Wells, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
Unattended and tactical sensors are
used by the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) and Objective
Force Warrior (OFW) to detect and identify enemy targets on the
battlefield. The radios being developed as part of the Networked
Sensors for the Objective Force (NSOF) are too costly and too
large to deploy in missions requiring throw-away hardware. A
low-cost miniature radio is required to satisfy the communication
needs for unmanned sensor and munitions systems that are deployed
in a disposable manner. A low cost miniature disposable
communications suite is leveraged using the commercial
off-the-shelf market and employing miniature universal frequency
conversion architecture. Employing the technology of universal
frequency architecture in a commercially available communication
unit delivers a robust disposable transceiver that can operate at
virtually any frequency. A low-cost RF communication radio has
applicability in the commercial, homeland defense, military, and
other government markets. Specific uses include perimeter
monitoring, infrastructure defense, unattended ground sensors,
tactical sensors, and border patrol. This paper describes a
low-cost radio architecture to meet the requirements of throw-away
radios that can be easily modified or tuned to virtually any
operating frequency required for the specific mission.
"Successful Project Management - Being a Member of
the Team"
[Jeff Wells]Abstract:
Project Managers are required to pull together personnel to form a team
but quite often fail to perform as a team member themselves. Team forming
rituals fail at the hand of one individual, the project manager himself.
Although schooling, certification, and other educational attributes
contribute to the knowledge base of a project manger it does not
necessarily breed successful project managers. Triumphant project mangers
have inherent skill sets that provide team members with the required
corridor for them to be successful and thrive in the project’s
environment. This paper looks at what being a true member of the project
team represents and the inherent skill sets of victorious project
managers.
"Power Amplifier Design: Exploiting Today’s
Technology"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Typical VHF/UHF power amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth
and efficiency. The inefficiency causes an excessive use of costly prime
power, which equates to significant heat dissipation, and in turn results in
unsatisfactory size and weight form factors. By exploiting present
state-of-the-art interrelated technology such as broadband impedance matching,
semiconductor properties, amplifier design techniques, etc., a realistic high
power RF Amplifier design can be optimized to include both attributes of high
efficiency and very broadband capability.
"Power Amplifier Requirements for Next Generation
Radios"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
The Armed Services is moving to software
capable radios, which allow the radio operation to be changed via software.
This dramatic increase in flexibility can only be realized if the RF power
amplifiers are also flexible. Present power amplifier technology does not
satisfy the needs of the evolving military requirements. Specifically, power
amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth. This equates to
numerous fielded amplifiers and unsatisfactory implementation and
maintenance requirements. Recent initiatives target innovative wide band and
flexible power amplifier techniques to support next generation radios.
Innovative techniques are required to develop wide band dynamically
controlled power amplifiers that are scalable within the 2MHz to 2GHz
spectrum that ultimately increase communications capabilities.
Abstract: Tactical training ranges provide an opportunity for all of the armed forces to assess operational readiness. To perform this task the various training ranges have deployed numerous telemetry systems. The current design efforts in place to upgrade the capabilities and unify the ranges under one telemetry system do not address the training ranges' need to maintain their training capability with the legacy systems that have been deployed until the new systems are ready. The purpose of this paper is to present two successful system sustainment efforts with different approaches to serve as models for preserving the current level of training range capabilities until the next generation of telemetry systems are deployed. While the two programs illustrated here deal primarily with the transponder components of the systems, these same methods can be applied to the other aspects of legacy telemetry system sustainment efforts.
"A Global Positioning System (GPS) Interference
Electronics Support Measure (ESM) Payload System for Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAVs)"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Modern
battlefields depend on GPS for precision navigation and timing.
Unfortunately, GPS signals are very-low level and GPS
interference, both intentional and unintentional, can severely
degrade GPS performance. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), which
have proven their value on the battlefield, rely heavily on GPS
for navigation and flight integrity. Key to continued mission
success for UAVs is enhanced anti-jamming capabilities. A
revealing test of anti-jamming performance for a UAV is to
maintain GPS synchronization, while accurately locating a GPS
jammer. A small, modular ESM payload is needed to supply
anti-jamming performance for the UAV and secondarily, to use DF
techniques to locate the GPS jammer. This paper investigates a
small, low-power, low-cost, modular solution to reducing the
vulnerability to jamming of UAVs by leveraging commercial
off-the-shelf technology. A miniaturized GPS antenna
configuration that both lowers susceptibility to GPS jamming, and
also allows accurate determination of the GPS jammer’s location,
is presented. This GPS antenna arrangement consists of two
GPS antenna arrays, one positioned on the top of the UAV (facing
skyward) and one positioned on the underside of the UAV (facing
the ground). The top antenna array acquires and tracks a
minimum of 4 GPS satellites for accurate positioning and timing.
The bottom antenna array is used to detect and locate GPS
interference, and in coordination with the top array, limits
susceptibility to GPS interference. The first action upon
detecting GPS interference is to alter the reception pattern of
the top GPS antenna array to reduce the amount of interference
processed by the GPS receiver. Simultaneously, sampled data
from both antenna arrays are used to monitor the effect of the
interference and calculate the position of the jammer.
"Employing a Communications Payload on an Unmanned
Underwater Vehicle (UUV) for Harbor Monitoring and Homeland Defense"
[Jeff Wells, Mark Manning, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
The Homeland Defense community is
increasing its focus on port security and harbor protection.
Rising to the challenge, the U.S. Coast Guard is tasked with
monitoring and protecting our harbors where commercial container
ships enter. Tracking of the onboard containers is of great
concern to the protectors of the waterfront. A system capable of
identifying the number of containers onboard the vessel, when the
containers are added or removed, contents of the containers, etc.,
will significantly reduce the potential for a security problem by
providing essential information to the Coast Guard or other port
security so that they can decide whether or not pre-boarding is
necessary. That is, boarding the ship and inspecting the cargo
while still at a safe distance from the harbor. This paper
presents a system that utilizes transmitters embedded on the
containers which incorporate unique ID codes identifying the
container, its history, and other information. A
Communication/Navigation Aid (C/NA) type vehicle/buoy concept,
presently being developed by Sippican (under contract to the
Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of the Autonomous
Operations – Future Naval Capabilities (AO-FNC) program),
positioned at sea, would include a payload of NuWaves’
communication transceivers able to receive the cargo container’s
transmitted ID and forward this information by RF link to a ground
station. The Port Authority and/or the Coast Guard would then
utilize the information to make an assessment of the vessel prior
to port entry. Although, this paper illustrates a scenario
applicable to the cargo shipping industry, it is also applicable
to other homeland defense areas such as unattended open ocean
force protection, drug and law enforcement, and environmental
monitoring.
"Shielding Effectiveness:
Principles and Calculations"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Components and printed circuit boards are
dramatically being reduced in size. The smaller size
incorporates new design challenges to RF engineers induced from
radiating elements located near, and adjacent to, sensitive
devices and low noise circuits (i.e. synthesizer PLL and LNA
circuitry) Understanding the principles of effective shielding
will mitigate the interference and significantly reduce
desensitization issues of critical RF circuitry.
"A Survey of COTS Wireless Transceiver Solutions for
Unmanned / Unattended Homeland Defense Systems"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells, Mike Trimble]
Abstract:
As the war on
terrorism continues abroad, the need to maintain security at home
remains a major concern. Every aspect of the security effort
can benefit from rapid information transfer. Advances in
Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) radios make them valuable in
applications ranging from deployed sensors on unsecured borders, to
organizing an emergency response team. Additionally, the
reduced cost and availability of these transceivers make them a
viable alternative to custom developments. As an example, COTS
radios can serve as the communication element in Unattended Ground
Sensor (UGS) and munitions systems. Other applications include
networked sonobuoys and networked RFID tracking. An additional
advantage of COTS solutions is that they are available in a small
form factor. They have extremely small mechanical outlines and are
easily installed in systems requiring miniature designs and light
payloads such as man-pack emplaced radios for the Army’s Future
Combat System (FCS), as well as missions carried out by Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The availability of the
COTS radios result in a low-cost alternative for communication links
that are applicable to military and Homeland Defense projects. They
provide an easily obtainable, low-cost radio alternative enabling
quick design cycles to meet mission timeliness. COTS solutions
eliminate months from a typical design cycle and have many features
already implemented such as ad-hoc routing and encryption.
This enables robust hardware to be fielded quickly when a new need
arises. The focus of this paper is to identify different
COTS modules that can efficiently and cost effectively be applied to
these and other various applications.
"A Miniature Disposable Radio (MiDR) for Unattended Ground Sensor
Systems (UGSS) and Munitions"
[Jeff Wells, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
Unattended and tactical sensors are
used by the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) and Objective
Force Warrior (OFW) to detect and identify enemy targets on the
battlefield. The radios being developed as part of the Networked
Sensors for the Objective Force (NSOF) are too costly and too
large to deploy in missions requiring throw-away hardware. A
low-cost miniature radio is required to satisfy the communication
needs for unmanned sensor and munitions systems that are deployed
in a disposable manner. A low cost miniature disposable
communications suite is leveraged using the commercial
off-the-shelf market and employing miniature universal frequency
conversion architecture. Employing the technology of universal
frequency architecture in a commercially available communication
unit delivers a robust disposable transceiver that can operate at
virtually any frequency. A low-cost RF communication radio has
applicability in the commercial, homeland defense, military, and
other government markets. Specific uses include perimeter
monitoring, infrastructure defense, unattended ground sensors,
tactical sensors, and border patrol. This paper describes a
low-cost radio architecture to meet the requirements of throw-away
radios that can be easily modified or tuned to virtually any
operating frequency required for the specific mission.
"Successful Project Management - Being a Member of
the Team"
[Jeff Wells]Abstract:
Project Managers are required to pull together personnel to form a team
but quite often fail to perform as a team member themselves. Team forming
rituals fail at the hand of one individual, the project manager himself.
Although schooling, certification, and other educational attributes
contribute to the knowledge base of a project manger it does not
necessarily breed successful project managers. Triumphant project mangers
have inherent skill sets that provide team members with the required
corridor for them to be successful and thrive in the project’s
environment. This paper looks at what being a true member of the project
team represents and the inherent skill sets of victorious project
managers.
"Power Amplifier Design: Exploiting Today’s
Technology"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Typical VHF/UHF power amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth
and efficiency. The inefficiency causes an excessive use of costly prime
power, which equates to significant heat dissipation, and in turn results in
unsatisfactory size and weight form factors. By exploiting present
state-of-the-art interrelated technology such as broadband impedance matching,
semiconductor properties, amplifier design techniques, etc., a realistic high
power RF Amplifier design can be optimized to include both attributes of high
efficiency and very broadband capability.
"Power Amplifier Requirements for Next Generation
Radios"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
The Armed Services is moving to software
capable radios, which allow the radio operation to be changed via software.
This dramatic increase in flexibility can only be realized if the RF power
amplifiers are also flexible. Present power amplifier technology does not
satisfy the needs of the evolving military requirements. Specifically, power
amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth. This equates to
numerous fielded amplifiers and unsatisfactory implementation and
maintenance requirements. Recent initiatives target innovative wide band and
flexible power amplifier techniques to support next generation radios.
Innovative techniques are required to develop wide band dynamically
controlled power amplifiers that are scalable within the 2MHz to 2GHz
spectrum that ultimately increase communications capabilities.
Abstract: Modern battlefields depend on GPS for precision navigation and timing. Unfortunately, GPS signals are very-low level and GPS interference, both intentional and unintentional, can severely degrade GPS performance. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), which have proven their value on the battlefield, rely heavily on GPS for navigation and flight integrity. Key to continued mission success for UAVs is enhanced anti-jamming capabilities. A revealing test of anti-jamming performance for a UAV is to maintain GPS synchronization, while accurately locating a GPS jammer. A small, modular ESM payload is needed to supply anti-jamming performance for the UAV and secondarily, to use DF techniques to locate the GPS jammer. This paper investigates a small, low-power, low-cost, modular solution to reducing the vulnerability to jamming of UAVs by leveraging commercial off-the-shelf technology. A miniaturized GPS antenna configuration that both lowers susceptibility to GPS jamming, and also allows accurate determination of the GPS jammer’s location, is presented. This GPS antenna arrangement consists of two GPS antenna arrays, one positioned on the top of the UAV (facing skyward) and one positioned on the underside of the UAV (facing the ground). The top antenna array acquires and tracks a minimum of 4 GPS satellites for accurate positioning and timing. The bottom antenna array is used to detect and locate GPS interference, and in coordination with the top array, limits susceptibility to GPS interference. The first action upon detecting GPS interference is to alter the reception pattern of the top GPS antenna array to reduce the amount of interference processed by the GPS receiver. Simultaneously, sampled data from both antenna arrays are used to monitor the effect of the interference and calculate the position of the jammer.
"Employing a Communications Payload on an Unmanned
Underwater Vehicle (UUV) for Harbor Monitoring and Homeland Defense"
[Jeff Wells, Mark Manning, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
The Homeland Defense community is
increasing its focus on port security and harbor protection.
Rising to the challenge, the U.S. Coast Guard is tasked with
monitoring and protecting our harbors where commercial container
ships enter. Tracking of the onboard containers is of great
concern to the protectors of the waterfront. A system capable of
identifying the number of containers onboard the vessel, when the
containers are added or removed, contents of the containers, etc.,
will significantly reduce the potential for a security problem by
providing essential information to the Coast Guard or other port
security so that they can decide whether or not pre-boarding is
necessary. That is, boarding the ship and inspecting the cargo
while still at a safe distance from the harbor. This paper
presents a system that utilizes transmitters embedded on the
containers which incorporate unique ID codes identifying the
container, its history, and other information. A
Communication/Navigation Aid (C/NA) type vehicle/buoy concept,
presently being developed by Sippican (under contract to the
Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of the Autonomous
Operations – Future Naval Capabilities (AO-FNC) program),
positioned at sea, would include a payload of NuWaves’
communication transceivers able to receive the cargo container’s
transmitted ID and forward this information by RF link to a ground
station. The Port Authority and/or the Coast Guard would then
utilize the information to make an assessment of the vessel prior
to port entry. Although, this paper illustrates a scenario
applicable to the cargo shipping industry, it is also applicable
to other homeland defense areas such as unattended open ocean
force protection, drug and law enforcement, and environmental
monitoring.
"Shielding Effectiveness:
Principles and Calculations"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Components and printed circuit boards are
dramatically being reduced in size. The smaller size
incorporates new design challenges to RF engineers induced from
radiating elements located near, and adjacent to, sensitive
devices and low noise circuits (i.e. synthesizer PLL and LNA
circuitry) Understanding the principles of effective shielding
will mitigate the interference and significantly reduce
desensitization issues of critical RF circuitry.
"A Survey of COTS Wireless Transceiver Solutions for
Unmanned / Unattended Homeland Defense Systems"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells, Mike Trimble]
Abstract:
As the war on
terrorism continues abroad, the need to maintain security at home
remains a major concern. Every aspect of the security effort
can benefit from rapid information transfer. Advances in
Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) radios make them valuable in
applications ranging from deployed sensors on unsecured borders, to
organizing an emergency response team. Additionally, the
reduced cost and availability of these transceivers make them a
viable alternative to custom developments. As an example, COTS
radios can serve as the communication element in Unattended Ground
Sensor (UGS) and munitions systems. Other applications include
networked sonobuoys and networked RFID tracking. An additional
advantage of COTS solutions is that they are available in a small
form factor. They have extremely small mechanical outlines and are
easily installed in systems requiring miniature designs and light
payloads such as man-pack emplaced radios for the Army’s Future
Combat System (FCS), as well as missions carried out by Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The availability of the
COTS radios result in a low-cost alternative for communication links
that are applicable to military and Homeland Defense projects. They
provide an easily obtainable, low-cost radio alternative enabling
quick design cycles to meet mission timeliness. COTS solutions
eliminate months from a typical design cycle and have many features
already implemented such as ad-hoc routing and encryption.
This enables robust hardware to be fielded quickly when a new need
arises. The focus of this paper is to identify different
COTS modules that can efficiently and cost effectively be applied to
these and other various applications.
"A Miniature Disposable Radio (MiDR) for Unattended Ground Sensor
Systems (UGSS) and Munitions"
[Jeff Wells, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
Unattended and tactical sensors are
used by the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) and Objective
Force Warrior (OFW) to detect and identify enemy targets on the
battlefield. The radios being developed as part of the Networked
Sensors for the Objective Force (NSOF) are too costly and too
large to deploy in missions requiring throw-away hardware. A
low-cost miniature radio is required to satisfy the communication
needs for unmanned sensor and munitions systems that are deployed
in a disposable manner. A low cost miniature disposable
communications suite is leveraged using the commercial
off-the-shelf market and employing miniature universal frequency
conversion architecture. Employing the technology of universal
frequency architecture in a commercially available communication
unit delivers a robust disposable transceiver that can operate at
virtually any frequency. A low-cost RF communication radio has
applicability in the commercial, homeland defense, military, and
other government markets. Specific uses include perimeter
monitoring, infrastructure defense, unattended ground sensors,
tactical sensors, and border patrol. This paper describes a
low-cost radio architecture to meet the requirements of throw-away
radios that can be easily modified or tuned to virtually any
operating frequency required for the specific mission.
"Successful Project Management - Being a Member of
the Team"
[Jeff Wells]Abstract:
Project Managers are required to pull together personnel to form a team
but quite often fail to perform as a team member themselves. Team forming
rituals fail at the hand of one individual, the project manager himself.
Although schooling, certification, and other educational attributes
contribute to the knowledge base of a project manger it does not
necessarily breed successful project managers. Triumphant project mangers
have inherent skill sets that provide team members with the required
corridor for them to be successful and thrive in the project’s
environment. This paper looks at what being a true member of the project
team represents and the inherent skill sets of victorious project
managers.
"Power Amplifier Design: Exploiting Today’s
Technology"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Typical VHF/UHF power amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth
and efficiency. The inefficiency causes an excessive use of costly prime
power, which equates to significant heat dissipation, and in turn results in
unsatisfactory size and weight form factors. By exploiting present
state-of-the-art interrelated technology such as broadband impedance matching,
semiconductor properties, amplifier design techniques, etc., a realistic high
power RF Amplifier design can be optimized to include both attributes of high
efficiency and very broadband capability.
"Power Amplifier Requirements for Next Generation
Radios"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
The Armed Services is moving to software
capable radios, which allow the radio operation to be changed via software.
This dramatic increase in flexibility can only be realized if the RF power
amplifiers are also flexible. Present power amplifier technology does not
satisfy the needs of the evolving military requirements. Specifically, power
amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth. This equates to
numerous fielded amplifiers and unsatisfactory implementation and
maintenance requirements. Recent initiatives target innovative wide band and
flexible power amplifier techniques to support next generation radios.
Innovative techniques are required to develop wide band dynamically
controlled power amplifiers that are scalable within the 2MHz to 2GHz
spectrum that ultimately increase communications capabilities.
Abstract: The Homeland Defense community is increasing its focus on port security and harbor protection. Rising to the challenge, the U.S. Coast Guard is tasked with monitoring and protecting our harbors where commercial container ships enter. Tracking of the onboard containers is of great concern to the protectors of the waterfront. A system capable of identifying the number of containers onboard the vessel, when the containers are added or removed, contents of the containers, etc., will significantly reduce the potential for a security problem by providing essential information to the Coast Guard or other port security so that they can decide whether or not pre-boarding is necessary. That is, boarding the ship and inspecting the cargo while still at a safe distance from the harbor. This paper presents a system that utilizes transmitters embedded on the containers which incorporate unique ID codes identifying the container, its history, and other information. A Communication/Navigation Aid (C/NA) type vehicle/buoy concept, presently being developed by Sippican (under contract to the Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of the Autonomous Operations – Future Naval Capabilities (AO-FNC) program), positioned at sea, would include a payload of NuWaves’ communication transceivers able to receive the cargo container’s transmitted ID and forward this information by RF link to a ground station. The Port Authority and/or the Coast Guard would then utilize the information to make an assessment of the vessel prior to port entry. Although, this paper illustrates a scenario applicable to the cargo shipping industry, it is also applicable to other homeland defense areas such as unattended open ocean force protection, drug and law enforcement, and environmental monitoring.
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract: Components and printed circuit boards are dramatically being reduced in size. The smaller size incorporates new design challenges to RF engineers induced from radiating elements located near, and adjacent to, sensitive devices and low noise circuits (i.e. synthesizer PLL and LNA circuitry) Understanding the principles of effective shielding will mitigate the interference and significantly reduce desensitization issues of critical RF circuitry.
"A Survey of COTS Wireless Transceiver Solutions for
Unmanned / Unattended Homeland Defense Systems"
[Tim Wurth, Jeff Wells, Mike Trimble]
Abstract:
As the war on
terrorism continues abroad, the need to maintain security at home
remains a major concern. Every aspect of the security effort
can benefit from rapid information transfer. Advances in
Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) radios make them valuable in
applications ranging from deployed sensors on unsecured borders, to
organizing an emergency response team. Additionally, the
reduced cost and availability of these transceivers make them a
viable alternative to custom developments. As an example, COTS
radios can serve as the communication element in Unattended Ground
Sensor (UGS) and munitions systems. Other applications include
networked sonobuoys and networked RFID tracking. An additional
advantage of COTS solutions is that they are available in a small
form factor. They have extremely small mechanical outlines and are
easily installed in systems requiring miniature designs and light
payloads such as man-pack emplaced radios for the Army’s Future
Combat System (FCS), as well as missions carried out by Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The availability of the
COTS radios result in a low-cost alternative for communication links
that are applicable to military and Homeland Defense projects. They
provide an easily obtainable, low-cost radio alternative enabling
quick design cycles to meet mission timeliness. COTS solutions
eliminate months from a typical design cycle and have many features
already implemented such as ad-hoc routing and encryption.
This enables robust hardware to be fielded quickly when a new need
arises. The focus of this paper is to identify different
COTS modules that can efficiently and cost effectively be applied to
these and other various applications.
"A Miniature Disposable Radio (MiDR) for Unattended Ground Sensor
Systems (UGSS) and Munitions"
[Jeff Wells, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
Unattended and tactical sensors are
used by the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) and Objective
Force Warrior (OFW) to detect and identify enemy targets on the
battlefield. The radios being developed as part of the Networked
Sensors for the Objective Force (NSOF) are too costly and too
large to deploy in missions requiring throw-away hardware. A
low-cost miniature radio is required to satisfy the communication
needs for unmanned sensor and munitions systems that are deployed
in a disposable manner. A low cost miniature disposable
communications suite is leveraged using the commercial
off-the-shelf market and employing miniature universal frequency
conversion architecture. Employing the technology of universal
frequency architecture in a commercially available communication
unit delivers a robust disposable transceiver that can operate at
virtually any frequency. A low-cost RF communication radio has
applicability in the commercial, homeland defense, military, and
other government markets. Specific uses include perimeter
monitoring, infrastructure defense, unattended ground sensors,
tactical sensors, and border patrol. This paper describes a
low-cost radio architecture to meet the requirements of throw-away
radios that can be easily modified or tuned to virtually any
operating frequency required for the specific mission.
"Successful Project Management - Being a Member of
the Team"
[Jeff Wells]Abstract:
Project Managers are required to pull together personnel to form a team
but quite often fail to perform as a team member themselves. Team forming
rituals fail at the hand of one individual, the project manager himself.
Although schooling, certification, and other educational attributes
contribute to the knowledge base of a project manger it does not
necessarily breed successful project managers. Triumphant project mangers
have inherent skill sets that provide team members with the required
corridor for them to be successful and thrive in the project’s
environment. This paper looks at what being a true member of the project
team represents and the inherent skill sets of victorious project
managers.
"Power Amplifier Design: Exploiting Today’s
Technology"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Typical VHF/UHF power amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth
and efficiency. The inefficiency causes an excessive use of costly prime
power, which equates to significant heat dissipation, and in turn results in
unsatisfactory size and weight form factors. By exploiting present
state-of-the-art interrelated technology such as broadband impedance matching,
semiconductor properties, amplifier design techniques, etc., a realistic high
power RF Amplifier design can be optimized to include both attributes of high
efficiency and very broadband capability.
"Power Amplifier Requirements for Next Generation
Radios"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
The Armed Services is moving to software
capable radios, which allow the radio operation to be changed via software.
This dramatic increase in flexibility can only be realized if the RF power
amplifiers are also flexible. Present power amplifier technology does not
satisfy the needs of the evolving military requirements. Specifically, power
amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth. This equates to
numerous fielded amplifiers and unsatisfactory implementation and
maintenance requirements. Recent initiatives target innovative wide band and
flexible power amplifier techniques to support next generation radios.
Innovative techniques are required to develop wide band dynamically
controlled power amplifiers that are scalable within the 2MHz to 2GHz
spectrum that ultimately increase communications capabilities.
"A Miniature Disposable Radio (MiDR) for Unattended Ground Sensor
Systems (UGSS) and Munitions"
[Jeff Wells, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
Unattended and tactical sensors are
used by the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) and Objective
Force Warrior (OFW) to detect and identify enemy targets on the
battlefield. The radios being developed as part of the Networked
Sensors for the Objective Force (NSOF) are too costly and too
large to deploy in missions requiring throw-away hardware. A
low-cost miniature radio is required to satisfy the communication
needs for unmanned sensor and munitions systems that are deployed
in a disposable manner. A low cost miniature disposable
communications suite is leveraged using the commercial
off-the-shelf market and employing miniature universal frequency
conversion architecture. Employing the technology of universal
frequency architecture in a commercially available communication
unit delivers a robust disposable transceiver that can operate at
virtually any frequency. A low-cost RF communication radio has
applicability in the commercial, homeland defense, military, and
other government markets. Specific uses include perimeter
monitoring, infrastructure defense, unattended ground sensors,
tactical sensors, and border patrol. This paper describes a
low-cost radio architecture to meet the requirements of throw-away
radios that can be easily modified or tuned to virtually any
operating frequency required for the specific mission.
"Successful Project Management - Being a Member of
the Team"
[Jeff Wells]Abstract:
Project Managers are required to pull together personnel to form a team
but quite often fail to perform as a team member themselves. Team forming
rituals fail at the hand of one individual, the project manager himself.
Although schooling, certification, and other educational attributes
contribute to the knowledge base of a project manger it does not
necessarily breed successful project managers. Triumphant project mangers
have inherent skill sets that provide team members with the required
corridor for them to be successful and thrive in the project’s
environment. This paper looks at what being a true member of the project
team represents and the inherent skill sets of victorious project
managers.
"Power Amplifier Design: Exploiting Today’s
Technology"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Typical VHF/UHF power amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth
and efficiency. The inefficiency causes an excessive use of costly prime
power, which equates to significant heat dissipation, and in turn results in
unsatisfactory size and weight form factors. By exploiting present
state-of-the-art interrelated technology such as broadband impedance matching,
semiconductor properties, amplifier design techniques, etc., a realistic high
power RF Amplifier design can be optimized to include both attributes of high
efficiency and very broadband capability.
"Power Amplifier Requirements for Next Generation
Radios"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
The Armed Services is moving to software
capable radios, which allow the radio operation to be changed via software.
This dramatic increase in flexibility can only be realized if the RF power
amplifiers are also flexible. Present power amplifier technology does not
satisfy the needs of the evolving military requirements. Specifically, power
amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth. This equates to
numerous fielded amplifiers and unsatisfactory implementation and
maintenance requirements. Recent initiatives target innovative wide band and
flexible power amplifier techniques to support next generation radios.
Innovative techniques are required to develop wide band dynamically
controlled power amplifiers that are scalable within the 2MHz to 2GHz
spectrum that ultimately increase communications capabilities.
[Jeff Wells, Tim Wurth]
Abstract:
Unattended and tactical sensors are
used by the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) and Objective
Force Warrior (OFW) to detect and identify enemy targets on the
battlefield. The radios being developed as part of the Networked
Sensors for the Objective Force (NSOF) are too costly and too
large to deploy in missions requiring throw-away hardware. A
low-cost miniature radio is required to satisfy the communication
needs for unmanned sensor and munitions systems that are deployed
in a disposable manner. A low cost miniature disposable
communications suite is leveraged using the commercial
off-the-shelf market and employing miniature universal frequency
conversion architecture. Employing the technology of universal
frequency architecture in a commercially available communication
unit delivers a robust disposable transceiver that can operate at
virtually any frequency. A low-cost RF communication radio has
applicability in the commercial, homeland defense, military, and
other government markets. Specific uses include perimeter
monitoring, infrastructure defense, unattended ground sensors,
tactical sensors, and border patrol. This paper describes a
low-cost radio architecture to meet the requirements of throw-away
radios that can be easily modified or tuned to virtually any
operating frequency required for the specific mission.
"Successful Project Management - Being a Member of
the Team"
[Jeff Wells]Abstract:
Project Managers are required to pull together personnel to form a team
but quite often fail to perform as a team member themselves. Team forming
rituals fail at the hand of one individual, the project manager himself.
Although schooling, certification, and other educational attributes
contribute to the knowledge base of a project manger it does not
necessarily breed successful project managers. Triumphant project mangers
have inherent skill sets that provide team members with the required
corridor for them to be successful and thrive in the project’s
environment. This paper looks at what being a true member of the project
team represents and the inherent skill sets of victorious project
managers.
"Power Amplifier Design: Exploiting Today’s
Technology"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Typical VHF/UHF power amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth
and efficiency. The inefficiency causes an excessive use of costly prime
power, which equates to significant heat dissipation, and in turn results in
unsatisfactory size and weight form factors. By exploiting present
state-of-the-art interrelated technology such as broadband impedance matching,
semiconductor properties, amplifier design techniques, etc., a realistic high
power RF Amplifier design can be optimized to include both attributes of high
efficiency and very broadband capability.
"Power Amplifier Requirements for Next Generation
Radios"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
The Armed Services is moving to software
capable radios, which allow the radio operation to be changed via software.
This dramatic increase in flexibility can only be realized if the RF power
amplifiers are also flexible. Present power amplifier technology does not
satisfy the needs of the evolving military requirements. Specifically, power
amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth. This equates to
numerous fielded amplifiers and unsatisfactory implementation and
maintenance requirements. Recent initiatives target innovative wide band and
flexible power amplifier techniques to support next generation radios.
Innovative techniques are required to develop wide band dynamically
controlled power amplifiers that are scalable within the 2MHz to 2GHz
spectrum that ultimately increase communications capabilities.
"Successful Project Management - Being a Member of
the Team"
[Jeff Wells]Abstract:
Project Managers are required to pull together personnel to form a team
but quite often fail to perform as a team member themselves. Team forming
rituals fail at the hand of one individual, the project manager himself.
Although schooling, certification, and other educational attributes
contribute to the knowledge base of a project manger it does not
necessarily breed successful project managers. Triumphant project mangers
have inherent skill sets that provide team members with the required
corridor for them to be successful and thrive in the project’s
environment. This paper looks at what being a true member of the project
team represents and the inherent skill sets of victorious project
managers.
"Power Amplifier Design: Exploiting Today’s
Technology"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
Typical VHF/UHF power amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth
and efficiency. The inefficiency causes an excessive use of costly prime
power, which equates to significant heat dissipation, and in turn results in
unsatisfactory size and weight form factors. By exploiting present
state-of-the-art interrelated technology such as broadband impedance matching,
semiconductor properties, amplifier design techniques, etc., a realistic high
power RF Amplifier design can be optimized to include both attributes of high
efficiency and very broadband capability.
"Power Amplifier Requirements for Next Generation
Radios"
[Jeff Wells]
Abstract:
The Armed Services is moving to software
capable radios, which allow the radio operation to be changed via software.
This dramatic increase in flexibility can only be realized if the RF power
amplifiers are also flexible. Present power amplifier technology does not
satisfy the needs of the evolving military requirements. Specifically, power
amplifier designs are limited in operational bandwidth. This equates to
numerous fielded amplifiers and unsatisfactory implementation and
maintenance requirements. Recent initiatives target innovative wide band and
flexible power amplifier techniques to support next generation radios.
Innovative techniques are required to develop wide band dynamically
controlled power amplifiers that are scalable within the 2MHz to 2GHz
spectrum that ultimately increase communications capabilities.
[Jeff Wells]
[Jeff Wells]
Attenuator Designs
PI Attenuators for RF and Wireless Engineering: PI Attenuator Designs
T Attenuators for RF and Wireless Engineering: T Attenuator Designs
RF Power Conversion Chart: dBm to mW power conversion
Return Loss to VSWR Conversion: VSWR Effects on TX Power
Standard Frequency Designations
HF Band
3 MHz - 30 MHz
VHF Band 30 MHz - 300 MHz
UHF Band 300 MHz - 1 GHz
L Band 1.0 GHz - 2.0
GHz
S Band 2.0 GHz - 4.0
GHz
C Band 4.0 GHz - 8.0
GHz
X Band 8.0 GHz - 12.0
GHz
Ku Band 12.0 GHz - 18.0 GHz
K Band
18.0 GHz - 27.0 GHz
Ka Band 27.0 GHz - 40.0 GHz
Contact NuWaves: NuWaves Info
© NuWaves Engineering 2003 - 2010, All Rights Reserved.
Last updated: 06/28/10
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