A broadband digital beam forming system comprises a set of Q pre-processing modules, Q being an integer greater than or equal to 2, and a set of M digital beam forming modules in communication with the Q preprocessing modules. Each of the Q preprocessing modules receives a respective one of Q broadband input signal streams and outputs M narrowband signal streams, M being an integer greater than or equal to 2. The total number of narrowband signal streams outputted by the Q pre-processing modules is Q times M. Each of the M digital beam forming modules receives corresponding Q narrowband signal streams of the Q times M narrowband signal streams, and outputs R beam signals, R being an integer greater than or equal to 1. The system further comprises a set of R post-processing modules in communication with the M digital beam forming modules. Each of the R post-processing modules receives M beam signals, each of the M beam signals being a corresponding one of the R beam signals from each of the M digital beam forming modules, and outputs a corresponding broadband output signal.