Boston Radar History – From $10,000 Magee to $10 Single Chip T/R
Module .… Better Than Fiction
Eli Brookner
Raytheon Company
Abstract -- We cover the amazing progress from the $10,000
microwave magee; the early World War (WW) II
Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) Radiation
Laboratory fire control and precision landing radars (N/SCR-
584 and Ground Approach Control [GCA] Mark-I); to the
Hawk system; the early air traffic control radars; the first
mass produced phased array radar (Precision Approach
Radar [PAR] AN/TPS-25); to present day $7 magee; the new
“Wonder of the World” the SBX missile defense 75 ft
diameter, 45,056 GaAs Monolithic Microwave Integrated
Circuits (MMIC) Transmit/Receive (T/R) module X-band
active array radar; the single chip < $10 X-band MMIC T/R
module; the low cost ($100’s) 24 GHz car blind spot phased
array radar; the new GaN technology which allows higher
power (~x10) and power efficiency; the hand held Hot Wheels
$20 speed radar.
Index Terms— Radar, radar history, World War 2, active-
phased arrays, monolithic microwave integrated circuits,
MMIC, T/R nodule, phased array, active electronic scanned
array, AESA, electronic scanning array, ESA, Sea Based X-
Band Radar, SBX, X-Band Radar, XBR, GaAs, adaptive
arrays, Space-Based Radar, SBR, Haystack Radar, low cost
radar, low phased arrays.
I. DURING WORLD WAR 2 ERA
Fig. 1 shows some of the outstanding contributions
made by the MIT Radiation Laboratory during the World
War (WW) 2 Era. The very significant contributions of the
Raytheon Company are given in Fig. 2.
II POST WORLD WAR 2
Contributions made after WW 2 by Raytheon with
respect to mechanically scanning commercial and military
radars are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. Lincoln Laboratory
MIT, formed in 1951, did pioneering work on phase arrays
after WW2 under the leadership of Dr. John Allen. The
pioneering contribution made by Raytheon (except for
Multifunction Array Radar [MAR] by Sylvania Electronics
Systems) to passive arrays is given in Fig. 5.
This was followed by work on active arrays using
hybrid (discrete) transistors and later by integrated circuits
(Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC)); see
Fig. 6 (right side of) and Fig. 7. Figure 6 also shows some
of Raytheon’s contributions to solid state “bottle”
transmitter mechanically scanned radars.
978-1-4244-2804-5/09/$25.00 © 2009 IEEE
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III. BREAKTHROUGHS AND FUTURE TRENDS
MMIC has reached the point where it is possible to put
a whole T/R module on a single chip at X-band (>10 mW)
and Ka-band (40 mW). The latter has permitted Raytheon to
a build an active 35GHz seeker array -- ~ $30/element
having about 600 elements that is projected to cost about
$19K. A truly low cost phase array radar has arrived for
automobiles -- a 24GHz blind-spot detection radar costing
only few 100 dollars; see Fig. 8. Even lower cost speed
radars are available one -- for baseball speed measurement
costing about $80 and a toy one costing only $20; see Fig.
9. Every radar engineer should buy one.
Lincoln Laboratory MIT has been a national asset since
its inception. It has carried out pioneering work to radars
used for air defense, ballistic missile defense, space
surveillance, ship defense and foliage penetration. It has
carried out cutting edge work dealing with radar signal
processing (e.g., adaptive processing, space-time adaptive
processing [STAP], the displaced phase center antenna
[DPCA] and components (MMIC, T/R module, surface
acoustic wave [SAW] deices. Most recently they are
upgrading the Haystack radar to provide satellite images to
the phenomenal resolution of 1cm; see Fig. 10. Other
leading edge work they are involved in is the potential for a
carbon transistor providing a terahertz clock speed instead
of the GHz available with Si and the potential for an
increased dynamic range in the presence of receiver
nonlinearities; see Fig. 11 and Fig. 12.
Other Boston area government and industry
organizations have made and are making major
contribution. For example, MITRE with the Cobra Dane,
PAVE PAWS, AWACS, Surveillance Radar Program
[SRP], Upgraded Early Warning Radar [UEWR] programs
among many others. RCA when in the Boston area did the
lunar landing radar. M/A-Com did the 15,000 diode phase
shifters for COBRA DANE; M/A-Com is also developing
low cost automobile radars. Hanscom ESD is a major
acquisition agency of radar systems.
Still others are Sylvania, Sperry, Varian, Signatron,
Radant, Ansoft, TASC, and BAE. Horizon House has been
a major contributor through its publications of Antech
House books and its publication of the Microwave Journal
which celebrated its 50th Anniversary last year with 12
1401 IMS 2009
special exciting and informative anniversary issues. The • OCT. '40 TO DEC. '45
July to December 2008 Microwave Journal issues also • DESIGNED ~ 1/2 RADARS OF WW II
contain a very good history of the microwave industry. • CREATED >100 DIFFERENT RADAR SYSTEMS
I have just touched the surface here and must be • CONSTRUCTED $1.5 BILLION WORTH OF RADAR
• ~ 4,000 PEOPLE WORKING ON MANY CONTINENTS
forgiven for not mentioning everyone. To get a more
X-BAND MICROWAVE EARLY
complete coverage, the reader should go to the references MARK-1 WARNING (MEW) S-584 FIRE
CONTROL
PAR S-BAND RADAR S-BAND
and the reference they in turn refer to.

REFERENCES
[1] Brookner, E., “Phased-Array Radar: Past, Astounding BOMBING & NAVIGATION AN/APS-20" X-BAND RADAR

Breakthroughs and Future Trends,” Microwave J., 1/08

USED
[2] Brookner, Eli, “Phased Arrays and Radar – Past, ELECTRONIC STEERING
Present and Future,” Microwave J., 1/06 pp 24-46 EAGLE (AN/APQ-7) ON B-29 SUPERFORTRESS 1ST AEW RADAR

[3] Brookner, Eli, “Phased Array and Radar Astounding

Breakthrough – An Update,” IEEE RadarCon ‘08, Fig. 1. MIT Radiation Laboratory WW2 Contributions
5/26-30/08
[4] Brookner, Eli, “Phased-Array Radars,” Scientific
RAYTHEON SOLVES SG-0 TO -7 RADARS S0-0 TO -13 PT
America, February 1985, pp. 94-102 MANUFACTURING 1ST NAVY MICROWAVE BOAT RADARS
[5] Brookner, Eli (Ed.), Practical Phased Array Antenna PROBLEM FOR MAGEE SURFACE SEARCH* 6000 BUILT
FOR WW-2
Systems, Artech House, MA 1991
[6] Brookner, Eli, Aspects of Modern Radar, Artech
ORIGINAL,S-BAND,
House, MA 1988 10 KW PEAK
[7] Brookner, Eli, Radar Technology, Artech House, MA SOLUTION: STAMP
RADAR, > 4000
BUILT FOR WW-2
OUT SHEETS OF CU PRES. KENNEDY ?
1977 RATHER THAN MILL PROXIMITY FUZE
[8] Brookner, Eli, “Major Advances in Phased Arrays: Part RADAR – TOP SECRET *FOR SG
ONE OF 3 INVENTIONS PROGRAM MANAGER:
I & Part II, “ Micro J. 5/97, pp 288-294 and 6/97, pp CREDITED WITH FRITZ GROSS
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR:
84-92 WINNING WW-2
DR. BILL HALL
[9] Fowler, C.A., “Rad Lab, Luie Alvarez, and the
Development of the CGA Radar Landing,” IEEE AESS RAYTHEON
PRODUCTION: 17/WEEK
Mag., 5/08, pp A1-A16 TO 2,600/DAY,
[10] Fowler, C.A., “Old Radar Types Never Die; They just 80% OF US WW 2 NEEDS

Phased Array or…55 Years of Try Scan,” IEEE AESS

Mag., 9/98, pp 24A–24L Fig. 2. Raytheon Contribution to WW 2
[11] Fowler, C.A., “Three R’s of Radar: Recollections,
Remonstrance’s, and Ruminations,” IEEE AESS Mag.,
8/89, pp 18-25
[12] Freeman, E.C., Technology in the National Interest,
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, 1995
[13] MIT Radiation Lab. 28 Vol. Series, available from
Artech House on CD ARSR-1 AND -2 AIR HAWK SEEKER RAMPART COBRA JUDY
ROUTE SURV RADARS RADAR. WSMR X-BAND (1982)
[14] Brookner, Eli, "Array Radars: An Update", Microwave LATE 50’S ON
Jour., Part 1, Vol. 30, No. 2, Feb. 1987, pp. 117-138
and Part 2, Vol. 30, No. 3, March 1987, pp. 167-174
[15] Brookner, Eli, "Radar of the 80's and Beyond – An
Update", IEEE , Electro/86, Session 25, 5/13-15/83
[16] Brookner, Eli, "Radar of the 80's and Beyond", IEEE
TERMINAL DOPPER MARINE RADARS, BY '74, HAVE STARE (1991)
Electro, Session 4, 5/15-17/84 WHEATHER RADAR >15,000 X-BD, >10,000 S-BD
[17] Microwave Jour., July 2008, pp.84-100, 150-209; Aug.
2008, pp. 106-110; Sept. 2008, pp. 188-190; Oct. 2008, Fig. 3. Raytheon Post WW2 Mechanical Scanned Radars
p. 104; Nov. 2008, p. 130; Dec. 2008, p. 82

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 THAAD GBR-P (1) ATNAVICS IRIDIUM
(>250)
(5.5)
(>200)
(800+)
(5) [19]*

(>70) (>200)
ASTOR
(>200)

FORWARD BASED
BMDS (X-BAND) SEA-BASED
MARINE RADAR X-BAND RADAR

(>190)
(107) * NATO
JLENS

SEASPARROW (>70)

*NUMBER BUILT ZUMWALlt SPY-3/VSR

COBRA JUDY
REPLACEMENT

Fig. 4. Additional Raytheon Post WW 2 Mechanical

Fig 7. Raytheon Ground/Sea MMIC Active Arrays
Scanned Radars
Deployed and Under Development

AN/TPN-25 (60) MSR

MAR (18)* (1)

(173)
(173) AN/GPN-22

MSR XTRM
COBRA DANE (1) COBRA
COBRA
MUSTRAC AEGIS (SPY-1) (234) JUDY
JUDY
PATRIOT
PATRIOT
(1) B-1 (100) (1)
(1)
SLQ-32
(>400) VALEO RAYTHEON
SOPHISTICATED PHASED ARRAY RADAR
TECHNOLOGY MEASURES APPROCHING
VEHICLES DISTANCE, DIRECTION AND
*Number Manufactured RELATIVE SPEED. IT ALERTS YOU TO
VEHICLES YOU MAY NOT SEE,
GIVING YOU THE EDGE.
Fig. 5. Example Boston Passive Phased Arrays Having
(VALEO RATHEON WEB SITE)
Large Productions
Fig. 8. A 24 GHz Blind-Spot Detection Radar

ASR- L-BAND ASR-

ASR-23SS L- ASR-11 (DASR) ASR-
ASR-10SS
TO 50 KW EVERYONE
SHOULD
S-BAND, 17 KW
PAVE PAWS (4)
BMEWS
OWN ONE
Upgrade
S-BAND (2)
ASDE-X, X-BAND LONG RANGE
RADAR, L-BAND
TO 30 KW
RAMP, L-BAND
21 KW UK

ROTHR
AIRPORT SURFACE
SURVEILLANCE
(WALMART.COM)

Fig. 6. Mechanical-scanner and Active Array Radars Fig. 9 Buy Your Kid a Radar
Using Hybrid-Transistors Transmitters

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 Dr. Eli Brookner received his BEE from
ROTATION The City College of the City of New
SLANT RANGE
ΔRs=c/(2BW)
York, ’53, MEE and DrSc from Columbia
University ’55 and ’62.
He has been at the Raytheon Company
since 1962, where he is a Principal
Engineering Fellow. There he has worked
HAYSTACK HUSIR on the ASDE-X radar, ASTOR Air
DOPPLER RES X-BAND 95 GHZ Surveillance Radar, RADARSAT II,
ΔRc=λ/(2Δθ) Affordable Ground Based Radar (AGBR),
COMPACT RANGE DATA major Space Based Radar programs, NAVSPASUR S-Band
(J. USOFF, RADARCON-2007, BOSTON, MA) upgrade, CJR, COBRA DANE, PAVE PAWS, MSR, COBRA
JUDY, THAAD, Brazilian SIVAM, SPY-3, AEGIS, BMEWS,
Fig. 10. Simulated Upgraded Haystack ISAR Image UEWR, Surveillance Radar Program (SRP), and COBRA DANE
Upgrade. Prior to Raytheon he worked on radar at Columbia
University Electronics Research Lab. [now RRI], Nicolet and
Rome AF Lab.
PATENTS TO IMPROVE A/D DYNAMIC RANGE*
He received the IEEE 2006 Dennis J. Picard Medal for Radar
PROBE SIG HARM PROBE Technology & Application “For Pioneering Contributions to
AMPLITUDE
SIGNAL Phased Array Radar System Designs, to Radar Signal Processing
SIGNAL SIG HARM
Designs, and to Continuing Education Programs for Radar
NOISE
Engineers”; IEEE ’03 Warren White Award; Journal of the
FREQUENCY Franklin Institute Premium Award for best paper award for 1966;
*US 6,639,537, US 7,173,555, G. M. RAZ; IEEE Wheeler Prize for Best Applications Paper for 1998. He is a
See also: Dr. James Anderson, HPEC08** Panel Sess. Fellow of the IEEE, AIAA, and MSS.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington MA He has published four books: Tracking and Kalman Filtering
24 Sept. 2008, www.ll.mit.edu/hpec Made Easy, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1998; Practical Phased
**High Performance Embedded Computing Array Antenna Systems (1991), Aspects of Modern Radar (1988),
and Radar Technology (1977), Artech House. He gives courses on
Fig. 11. Possible A/D Breakthrough Radar, Phased Arrays and Tracking around the world (22
countries). Over 10,000 have attended these courses. He was
banquet speaker and keynote speaker six times. He has over 110
• GaAs TRANSISTORS* papers, talks and correspondences to his credit. In addition, he has
over 80 invited talks and papers.
• 3X TO 4X CLOCK SPEED (9-12 GHZ VS GHZ)
• INTEL ANNOUNCED INTEREST IN 2005
• CARBON TRANSISTORS**; RE SI:
•1000 X CLOCK SPEED (TERAHERTZ VS GHZ)
• LOWER RESISTANCE
• BETTER HEA
CONDUCTION

*P. D. YE, IEEE SPECTRUM, 9/08,

**MIT TECH. REVIEW, W. DE HEER, GEORGIA TECH., P. 59-60

Fig. 12. Other Options for Higher Signal Processing Speed

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