The Digital Horizon-Pushing
the "Bits" Closer to the Antennas
Thomas L.Frey, Ph.D.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company
We live in a world of continuous innovation. Although Moore’s law may have finally hit a snag, the use of multiple parallel processors continues to increase the amount of throughput and memory that is available to the designer. Advances in high speed analog to digital converters have allowed large portions of the analog receiver chain to be eliminated. As we are able to digitize the RF waveform closer to the antenna, many of the current design issues become moot, only to be replaced by a myriad of issues of a different sort. Probability of intercept problems become data mining problems – hardware design challenges become algorithm design challenges. This presentation explores the potential of an RF system where the waveform can be directly sampled and processed in the digital domain versus the hardware domain.
About the Speaker
Dr. Tom Frey is the Chief Engineer for Fusion on the F-35 program and a Lockheed Martin Fellow. His expertise is in the area of systems analysis, target location, signal phenomena, and fusion. Over his career he has provided key contributions to the design, development, and testing of the F-16, the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. He has published more than a dozen technical papers and holds patents in the areas of adaptive thresholds, digital beamforming, and advanced antenna design. Dr. Frey is a member of the Texas A&M External Advisory & Development Council for the Department of Electrical Engineering. In recent years he has been an adjunct professor at Texas Christian University and Columbia College. Dr. Frey is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas.
