Using FPGAs to Improve the Performance of Radar, Navigation and Guidance Systems

Radar, navigation and guidance systems process data that is acquired using arrays of sensors. The energy delta from sensor to sensor over time holds the key to information such as targets, position or course. This two-dimensional array of data, often referred to as an "observation matrix", must be solved as a set of linear equations to extract the desired information. Solution methods include matrix inverse, factorization, adaptive filtering and singular value decomposition and are typically performed using floating point arithmetic to allow for sufficient dynamic range and precision of the input data. Doing so, however, limits the performance of a system.