Full fidelity radar receiver digital video distribution and processing

1. A processing device for providing radar data onto a local area network, comprising:

an analog-to-digital converter operable to receive analog radar data from an antenna in response to a generated pulse, the analog-to-digital converter operable to convert the analog radar data into digital radar data;

an interference rejector operable to remove radar signals of other antennas from the digital radar data;

a range bin decimator operable to limit the digital radar data to a threshold number of range bins;

a trigger-to-azimuth converter operable to associate the digital radar data to particular azimuths of rotation of the antenna; and

a local area network manager operable to receive processed digital radar data from the trigger-to-azimuth-converter and to place the processed digital radar data onto a local area network;

wherein the processing device is provided to be positioned in a pedestal of the antenna; and the trigger-to-azimuth converter is operable to detect a change in azimuth of the antenna wherein, whenever a change in azimuth is detected, prior azimuth data is propagated to a next processing stage, and a current pulse repetition interval of range bins is stored for the new azimuth, and, if the change in azimuth is m times a selected azimuth increment, the prior azimuth data is written out m times artificially incremented by one azimuth step associated with each copy of the output, and, if a subsequent pulse repetition interval trigger is associated with a same azimuth as stored data of a previous pulse repetition interval trigger, an averaging of the digital radar data for each pulse associated with a particular azimuth is performed.

2. The processing device of claim 1 , further comprising:

a gain amplifier and bias controller operable to set a gain and bias to allow for noise fluctuations to be seen in the digital radar data for small target detections.

3. The processing device of claim 1 , wherein the range bin decimator is operable to perform down-sampling to further reduce a number of range bins.

4. The processing device of claim 3 , wherein down-sampling is performed based on how frequent pulses are transmitted from the antenna.

5. The processing device of claim 3 , wherein down-sampling is performed multiple times depending on how frequent pulses are transmitted from the antenna.

6. The processing device of claim 1 , wherein the local area network manager provides the digital radar data on the local area network as a two dimensional array of values in polar coordinates indexed by range and azimuth.

7. A system for providing radar data onto a local area network, comprising:

a plurality of antennas, each antenna including the processing device of claim 1 ;

a plurality of computer and display units operable to process and display digital radar data generated by the processing devices; and

a local area network coupling the processing devices and the computer and display units.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein each computer and display unit performs sensitivity time control, fast time constant, scan-to-scan correlation, and color threshold processing on selected digital radar data generated by the plurality of processing devices.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein each computer and display unit performs coordinate conversion and drawing management to present a radar image of the digital radar data.

10. A method for providing radar data onto a local area network, comprising:

receiving analog radar data from an antenna;

converting the analog radar data into digital radar data;

removing radar signals of other antennas from the digital radar data;

limiting the digital radar data to a threshold number of range bins;

associating the digital radar data to particular azimuths of rotation of the antenna; and

placing the digital radar data onto a local area network; wherein the method is carried out in a pedestal of the antenna; and

the step of associating the digital radar data to particular azimuths of rotation of the antenna comprises a step detecting a change in azimuth of the antenna wherein, whenever a change in azimuth is detected, prior azimuth data is propagated to a next processing stage, and a current pulse repetition interval of range bins is stored for the new azimuth, and, if the change in azimuth is m times a selected azimuth increment, the prior azimuth data is written out m times artificially incremented by one azimuth step associated with each copy of the output, and, if a subsequent pulse repetition interval trigger is associated with a same azimuth as stored data of a previous pulse repetition interval trigger, an averaging of the digital radar data for each pulse associated with a particular azimuth is performed.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

setting a gain and bias to allow for noise fluctuations to be seen in the digital radar data for small target detections.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

performing down-sampling to further reduce a number of range bins.

13. The method of claims 10 , wherein the digital radar data is provided on the local area network as a two dimensional array of values in polar coordinates indexed by range and azimuth.

14. A system for radar video distribution comprising:

one or more displays;

one or more antennas, each of which is operable to produce analog radar data;

one or more processing devices, each of which is operable to receive the analog radar data from a separate antenna, wherein each processing device comprises an analog-to-digital converter operable to receive analog radar data from an antenna in response to a generated pulse, the analog-to-digital converter operable to convert the analog radar data into digital radar data, an interference rejector operable to remove radar signals of other antennas from the digital radar data, a range bin decimator operable to limit the digital radar data to a threshold number of range bins, and a trigger-to-azimuth converter operable to associate the digital radar data to particular azimuths of rotation of the antenna, and a local area network manager operable to receive processed digital radar data from the trigger-to-azimuth converter; and

a local area network coupled between the processing device and the at least one display, wherein the network is operable to receive the processed digital radar data from the local area network manager and to transmit the processed digital radar data to the at least one display;

wherein the processing device is positioned in a pedestal of the antenna; and

the trigger-to-azimuth converter is operable to detect a change in azimuth of the antenna wherein, whenever a change in azimuth is detected, prior azimuth data is propagated to a next processing stage, and a current pulse repetition interval of range bins is stored for the new azimuth, and, if the change in azimuth is m times a selected azimuth increment, the prior azimuth data is written out m times artificially incremented by one azimuth step associated with each copy of the output, and, if a subsequent pulse repetition interval trigger is associated with a same azimuth as stored data of a previous pulse repetition interval trigger, an averaging of the digital radar data for each pulse associated with a particular azimuth is performed.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein each display is operable to receive digital signals from any of the one or more processing devices.