Academia and industry combine to develop cutting-edge radar system for space travel
20 April 2017
A new research partnership has been launched which will see university engineers working alongside a leading satellite technology company to develop a pioneering new radar system. The innovative research agreement between the University of Lincoln, UK, and Arralis, based in Ireland, was signed in March 2017 and it signifies the start of a major new […]
A new research partnership has been launched which will see university engineers working alongside a leading satellite technology company to develop a pioneering new radar system.
The innovative research agreement between the University of Lincoln, UK, and Arralis, based in Ireland, was signed in March 2017 and it signifies the start of a major new project to build a novel piece of radar technology which will have a number of high-tech applications. These include autonomous driving systems, helicopter landing systems, drone collision avoidance, and space travel.
Arralis – a rapidly scaling technology company based in Limerick, Ireland, which provides world-leading expertise in radio frequency and micro and millimetre-wave technology – has joined forces with the University of Lincoln to move forward with the development of its new ‘Mono Pulse Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) Radar System’.
The front half of the system will be based on cutting-edge radars in Arralis’ existing 92-96GHz Tucana range of modules, and the back end will consist of innovative new technologies developed by experts from the University of Lincoln’s School of Engineering.
The Lincoln team, led by Dr Saket Srivastava, Programme Leader for the BEng and MEng Electrical Engineering courses in Lincoln’s School of Engineering, will develop the rear half of the Radar System – a digital signal-processing module. Dr Srivastava specialises in the modelling of new nano electronic devices and computer-aided design tools for nano and molecular circuit design. His team will use the latest digital design techniques and hardware to develop the new radar system and ultimately, their work will provide a digital interface for the transmitter and receiver modules, developed by Arralis, and a variety of effective user displays and controls.
The resulting Radar System will deliver advances in precision and accuracy, which are fundamental for helicopter safety, drone and space applications where reliability is absolutely crucial. It will be designed to see through adverse weather conditions to improve vision quality and reduce the risk of accidents.
Dr Srivastava said: “This project represents the first step in a continuing collaborative partnership with Arralis, and we are pleased to be adding our strong academic expertise to the digital signal processing elements of their system. We are delighted that we have been able to create a new research associate post to support this project and look forward to continuing our work with the company into the future.”
Mr Mike Gleaves, CTO of Arralis, said: “The product we are developing with the University is unique because of its very small size and weight. It can see through dust clouds, snow and rain, and this will help to solve a major problem with helicopter safety, which is crucial for many reasons.”