Cover letter

0060-EX-ML-2009 Text Documents

ImSAR LLC

2009-05-20ELS_98377

May 20, 2009 Form 422 File Number: 0414-EX-PL-2008, modification request Federal Communications Commission Office of Engineering and Technology Experimental Licensing Branch 445 12th St., S.W. Room 7-A322 Washington, DC 20554 To Whom it May Concern, On behalf of ImSAR LLC I would like to apply for a modification of Experimental License Call Sign WE2XVR to further the development of a low power radar system. I would like to increase the peak power up to 8W for certain bands, add a location near Simi Valley CA, and add a new band centered at 1320MHz. The increased power is to increase the usable range of the radar by several thousand feet. The request for a band of 160MHz centered around 1320 MHz is for foliage penetrating radar. This fits cleanly within the radiolocation bands running from 1240 MHz to 1400 MHz and will have a power spectral density of The radar will be operated on an occasional basis of a few times per month for roughly an hour each time it is used. The end user of these experimental systems will be predominantly the US Department of Defense. This request is comparable to similar systems that have been granted an STA1 and an Experimental Radio Service License2. We have operated up to this point under STA 0130-EX-ST-2008, and more recently using experimental license call sign WE2XVR. I hope the attached document has sufficient information to enable a favorable approval of an experimental license. Sincerely, Adam Robertson NanoSAR Program Manager 510 W 90 S Salem UT 84653 801-762-7263 adamr@imsar.com 1 Refer to STA file number S-2353-EX-96 2 Refer to Experimental Radio Service file number 0302-EX-PL-2004

Purpose of radio operation: ImSARs LLC has technology that is able to track moving targets, image the surface of the earth, create digital elevation maps, assist in search and rescue operations, and detect small changes in a scene, such as the movement of a vehicle. The US Navy, Army and Air Force have expressed interest in this technology. The size, weight, power, and cost of this Nano sized Synthetic Aperture Radar system (NanoSAR) is an order of magnitude less than similar systems. The radical change is weight and power consumptions enables tactical use of the radar, which in turn gives surveillance capabilities to small sets of soldiers that were previously unavailable. With the new surveillance capabilities, dangerous and life threatening situations can be further reduced. Similar radar systems, such as Linx SAR weighs 85 lbs and transmit 300W of power. ImSAR’s radar system weighs 2 lbs and transmits less than 1W of power. ImSAR requests a license in order to complete product testing and begin customer demonstrations. ImSAR will use this experimental license to performed tests from a small aircraft flying under 2km in elevation. The transmit and receive antennas are nominally pointed toward the earth. Reflected signals are collected and processed to create images of the ground. The resolution of the imagery is directly proportional to the bandwidth of the signal transmitted. In order to obtain resolutions as small as 0.3 m, a transmit bandwidth of 500 MHz is desired. Transmission is linear frequency modulated continuous wave with the frequency being swept from the minimum to the maximum frequency 1000 times per second. Because the transmission power is under 1W and the frequency sweeps very rapid, the average power at a given frequency is extremely low. Transmissions will be generally performed in remote areas over very limited time intervals of roughly an hour at a time, a few times per month. Operation Location and Height: NanoSAR will be operated from a small aircraft at a height between 0m and 5000m. The transmit signal is directed perpendicular to the line of site and towards the ground using a simple patch antenna array with a beam width approximately 45°in elevation and 10° along the track of the aircraft. The peak of the antenna pattern has a 45° incident angle to the ground. The return signal is received by an identical receive antenna co-located with the transmit antenna. Data collections will occur primarily over rural areas of northern Utah to test the functionality and demonstrate the utility of the NanoSAR as a tool for both commercial and military applications. Sites of interest to be imaged will be terrains of interest to potential customers, including urban and rural scenes. Site at Boardman OR, Arlington

OR, China Lake CA, Yuma AZ, and Whidbey Island WA are also areas for testing or potential testing of NanoSAR. Sla nt 17 Ran (52 30 ft ge 660 ft Elevation 4m ) (200 m) Targets at ~800 ft (242m) 45° 27° swath 660 ft 940 ft (200 m) (285 m) 1600 ft (485 m) Description of the Transmit Signal: The transmit signal is from 10 to 10.5 GHz. Most transmissions will be further constrained to a small bandwidth of 150 MHz centered at 10.25 Hz. The signal is continuous and modulated only by frequency. The frequency is ramped from the bottom of the bandwidth to the top of the bandwidth at a 1kHz rate. The received signal is mixed with the transmitted signal in a homodyne fashion. Frequency is controlled with a highly stable PLL and 25 MHz crystal with 25 ppm stability. The frequency ramp is controlled with a direct digital synthesizer capable of over 60 dB ACPR. The final power amplifier is a linear MMIC based amplifier with excellent linearity. The highest power spectral density we anticipate is -40 dBW/Hz (75 MHz bandwidth). We have equipment in house to measure out of band spurious signals and we regularly measure our transmission signals to minimize harmonics and spurious signals. Time Period of Operation We have submitted form 1494 for NanoSAR. We anticipate the 1494 to take several months for approval. Until that is complete, we would like to continue development. We anticipate doing tests a few times per month, with each test typically lasting under 1 hour.

A Record of non-interference ImSAR’s NanoSAR has logged nearly 20 hours of unmanned flight and easily more than twice that in manned flight operating this system so far. To date we have observed no detectable interference with other systems including communication equipment, active military radar systems, commercial aircraft, or unmanned aircraft systems. NanoSAR has been found to be tolerant of interference from these systems, up to and including interference from large directional antennas and high power military radars.


Document Created: 2009-05-20 19:24:27
Document Modified: 2009-05-20 19:24:27
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