Artificially Intelligent Power Amplifier Array (AIPAA): A New Paradigm in Reconfigurable Radar Transmission

The increasing re-allocation of traditional radar bands for spectrum sharing requires future radar systems to be both adaptive and reconfigurable in real time. Radar array outputs must be monitored so that related inputs are adjusted to ensure spatial and spectral coexistence with other systems while maximizing performance. We discuss a new concept: an array of reconfigurable power amplifiers coupled with fast algorithms that can allow performance to be re-optimized upon changes in operating frequency or beam steering. This AIPAA will be capable of embedding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques to optimize the array pattern with the waveforms and circuitry. The AIPAA will optimize the transmitter and transmissions to coexist within the spectral and spatial domains. A spatial-spectral mask and an approach to join different optimizations are discussed as useful building blocks for constructing the AIPAA optimizations. The impact of circuit linearity on the array pattern and potential improvement from real-time reconfigurable circuitry in the array elements are also discussed.