Antenna array-based multi-dimensional infinite-impulse response (IIR) digital beamformers\nare employed in a multitude of radio frequency (RF) applications ranging from electronically-scanned\nradar, radio telescopes, long-range detection and target tracking. A method to design 3D IIR beam\nfilters using 2D IIR beam filters is described. A cascaded 2D IIR beam filter architecture is proposed\nbased on systolic array architecture as an alternative for an existing radar application. Differential-form\ntransfer function and polyphase structures are employed in the design to gain an increase in the speed\nof operation to gigahertz range. The feasibility of practical implementation of a 4-phase polyphase\n2D IIR beam filter is explored. A digital hardware prototype is designed, implemented and tested\nusing a ROACH-2 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platform fitted with a Xilinx Virtex-6\nSX475T FPGA chip and multi-input analog-to-digital converters (ADC) boards set to a maximum\nsampling rate of 960 MHz. The article describes a method to build a 3D IIR beamformer using\npolyphase structures. A comparison of technical specifications of an existing radar application based\non phased-array and the proposed 3D IIR beamformer is also explained to illustrate the proposed\nmethod to be a better alternative for such applications.
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