Hi everyone! These are some of the developments and my own thoughts based on my interaction and experience with radars.
Some of the major modes realized so far in uttam AESA radars are-
1)Air-Air mode
(a) Target acquisition mode
(b) Countermeasure support mode
(c) Performance monitoring
(d) Multi target track
(e) Weapon systems support.
2)Air to sea mode
(a) Target detection and tracking-ISAR and RS.
3) Air to ground mode
(i) Imaging modes
(a) Real beam mapping.
(b) Strip map
(c) Spotlight mode
(d) Air to ground ranging and terrain avoidance.
(e) GMTI
(f) GMTT
4) Target search and track.
All these modes are interleaved that means they are performed one after the other sequentially however since the time scales are in micro seconds it appears near simultaneous to the pilot.
The main constraint to the AESA is the power and cooling requirements from the fighter platform.
The design of X-band T/R modules package also known as "planks" have been realized in the country for the first time and patented! Yes LRDE bangalore hold the patent. They have settled with vaccum barzing technology for manufacturing these planks in India.
They're 3 variants of this plank-4,6 and 8 T/R module.
These QTRM planks form the building blocks of not only fighter jet AESA radar but also a lot of other strategic AESA radars under design and development at DRDO.
This fighter borne AESA has a minimum range of 115kms against a 2m^2 target.
@Oscar
@Nilgiri
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