Multimode W-Band and D-Band MIMO Scalable Radar Platform

This article demonstrates the implementation of 80and 160-GHz four-channel radar sensors employing the modular scalable platform based on a single relaxed 40-GHz local oscillator and cascadable transceiver chips. The first two channels synthesize 2 × 2 multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar at 80 GHz with onboard 8 × 1 patch arrays for enhanced angular resolution, whereas the other two channels employ 160-GHz system-on-chip transceivers with integrated wideband 6-dBi micromachined on-chip antennas for enhanced range resolution. Configurable modulators in each transceiver offer ranging, direction-of-arrival (DoA) estimation, velocity/vibrations measurement, and data communication applications. Frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) is demonstrated with 4-/8-GHz sweep bandwidth at 80/160 GHz corresponding to 3.75-/1.875-cm range resolution. Chirp-sequence FMCW is employed to measure the heartbeat rate of a human, and 78 bpm is measured with 0.06-Hz Doppler resolution. Mechanical vibration rate from a loudspeaker is measured using the CW radar technique, whereas phase-modulated continuous wave is employed for distant selective vibrations measurement. Time-division multiplexing MIMO radar is configured at 80 GHz in a multitarget scenario for DoA estimation, and the targets are distinguished with 25° effective angular resolution. Frequency-division multiplexing MIMO radar technique is demonstrated based on ΔΣ-modulation and binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulators. Furthermore, the 10-Mb/s BPSK data communication link is evaluated at 80 GHz with a 20-dB signal-to-noise ratio at 1 m. The 160-GHz vector modulators offer additional modulations.