University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

1.09 GHz mode-S receiver design and VHF radar antenna characterization

Zhang, Dabin

Content Files
ECE499-Sp2013-zhangDabin.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/47629

Description

Title
1.09 GHz mode-S receiver design and VHF radar antenna characterization
Author(s)
Zhang, Dabin
Contributor(s)
Franke, Steven J.
Issue Date
2013-05
Keyword(s)
  • tuned radio frequency receiver
  • mode-S
  • ADS-B
  • antenna pattern measurement
Date of Ingest
2014-03-20T16:04:33Z
Abstract
The design and implementation of a 1.09 GHz tuned-radio-frequency (TRF) receiver which can capture mode-S secondary surveillance radar reply frames sent by aircraft transponders is discussed in this thesis. The RF frontend of the receiver employs an RF-IC and SAW filter and detects the envelope of the input signal. The detected envelope signal is sampled and demodulated by FPGA firmware to reconstruct mode-S frames which can be retrieved via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. Mode-S frame recording and decoding programs were written in C++ to extract aircraft information such as latitude, longitude, altitude, and aircraft identification number. Some decoded data has been combined with radar backscatter data collected by a VHF remote sensing radar to characterize the radiation pattern of the radar antenna arrays. The analyses confirmed that one antenna array performs according to theoretical expectation and uncovered a significant problem with another antenna array due to a coaxial cable connectivity issue.
Type of Resource
text
Genre of Resource
Other
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/47629

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