Cooperative Signal Processing Beacon Transponder for Airport Traffic Control

In recent years there has been an interest in physically small, low-cost, low-energy consuming electronic markers for air traffic control on the ground. In this paper a solid state 14.5 GHz low-cost beacon transponder is investigated that provides a target-like signal for a maximum range of 5 miles in various weather conditions when illuminated by an existing 14.5 GHz surface detection RADAR developed by Texas Instruments (TI), Dallas, Texas.