Rick Sturdivant
Rick Sturdivant is President of Microwave Products and Technology, Inc (mptcorp.com) which develops products and technology supporting T/R modules and phased arrays for commercial and military systems. He has over 26 years of experience developing products for microwave and millimeter-wave applications. His experience includes high volume telecom modules, point to point radio systems, modules for radar receiver exciters, and T/R modules and subsystems for active electronically scanned arrays. He was instrumental in developing the world’s first tile array T/R modules for which he received the Engineering Excellence Award from Hughes Aircraft Company. He holds 6 US Patents and has published over 23 articles on microwave and millimeter-wave circuits. He is author of the books Transmit Receive Modules for Radar and Communication Systems (Artech House, 2015), Hands on Guide to Heat Transfer for Microwave and Millimeter-wave Electronics (eBook: Amazon.com, 2015), Microwave and Millimeter-wave Electronic Packaging (Artech House, 2013), and Chapter 1 of the book RF and Microwave Electronic Packaging (Springer Publishing, 2010). He earned a M.S.E.E. from UCLA, a B.S.E.E. from CSULB, and a B.A. from Vanguard University.
Transmit/Receive Modules for Military and Commercial Applications
"Applications, Key Components, Design Issues and Manufacturing"
Abstract
Phased Arrays with Transmit/Receive (T/R) modules have become ubiquitous in military radar systems and are now being used or proposed for use in numerous commercial systems. This is due to their superior system level performance. For instance, military radar often uses Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars for airborne, ground based and ship borne systems. The heart of most AESA radar systems is the T/R module. It can account for 40-70% of the cost of the radar depending upon the number of T/R modules used. The T/R module allows for the radar beam to be scanned electronically and it is the component that enables the functionality found in AESA radars. Commercial uses for phased arrays include satellite systems, Smart Antennas and telecom back haul. The use of Smart Antenna systems is being driven by mobile phone and mobile data usage. Global mobile device data usage will increase 18 fold by 2016 reaching 10.8 exabytes (1 exabyte = 1018 bytes = 109 gigabytes) per month.1,2 It is widely agreed that a new approach to wireless infrastructure is required to meet this need and Smart Antennas are expected to fill this requirement. Smart antenna systems are phased arrays with T/R modules that may replace the existing cell tower infrastructure.
This talk will cover the design trades, packaging, thermal and electrical interconnects used in phased arrays and T/R modules. We will compare brick modules, tile modules, panel arrays and the packaging of MMIC devices for radar systems. The heart of the talk will be the "10 key elements to a successful T/R module." If you are a designer, manager or executive responsible for the development of phased arrays, the topics covered in this talk will be important to you.
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Additional Topic Covered: Design Trades and Electrical Performance Brick Modules versus Tile Modules Flat Panel Arrays Phased Arrays in Commercial Systems Key Components |
Material Choices Si CMOS, SiGe, GaAs, and GaN Thermal Design Concerns Cost Drivers and Manufacturability Microwave Hybrids and Multichip Modules |