Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs),
RFADC/DAC and Beamformer ICs

T/R Modules are the basic building blocks of AAAU and in which major components are different MMICs in the form of TR chips are, Phase shifter, attenuator, LNA and Power Amplifier etc. Currently most of the MMICs and Power Amplifiers are imported. To meet the futuristic requirements of Active phased array, SWaP-CR optimized AAAU architecture is proposed in order to reduce volume and weight. In order to achieve it, higher integration is required not only on module level, but also on MMIC level. Hence, SiGe Bi-CMOS based multifunction MMIC (also called as Core chip) provide significant reduction in chip area and has the potential to combine multi-channel T/R module in a single chip. Currently there are only two OEMs from USA for the core chips meeting most of the requirements, but not all. Beamformer ICS are also currently imported leading to the total dependence on these foreign vendors. So there is a strong need to indigenise these to reduce the import content and increase the self-reliance.

DRDO has been given the mandate of maximising the indigenous content in DRDO Designed Products and Technologies. This technology development aims at indigenous realisation of MMICs, power amplifiers, beamformer ICs in various bands to cater for multiple projects of LRDE.