Technological Evolution and Research Hotspot Analysis of Radar Transmitters Based on Knowledge Mappin

Radar transmitters are key radio-frequency units in radar systems, and their technological development directly affects system output power, operating bandwidth, integration level, and multifunctional capability. To clarify the research status and development trends of radar transmitters, this study takes 1,194 relevant publications indexed in CNKI and the Web of Science Core Collection from 2000 to 2026 as the sample, and applies VOSviewer and CiteSpace for bibliometric and knowledge-map analysis. The results show that Chinese and international literature differ in research focus. Chinese publications mainly concentrate on AESA modules, solid-state transmitters, T/R modules, system integration, and equipment support, whereas international publications pay more attention to GaN power devices, power amplifiers, CMOS/SiGe millimeter-wave chips, automotive radar, and MIMO radar. Keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and temporal analyses indicate that radar transmitter research has mainly formed four technical directions: high-power vacuum devices, solid-state power amplifiers and T/R modules, millimeter-wave monolithic integration, and MIMO radar with multifunctional integration. Further analysis shows that the technological evolution of this field is closely related to changes in device materials, radio-frequency processes, module integration, and system architectures, and generally presents a trend from high-power devices toward solid-state implementation, integration, and multifunctionality. From a bibliometric perspective, this study summarizes the research hotspots and evolutionary characteristics of radar transmitters, and may provide a reference for related technical research and engineering development.