A 94 GHz single-chip FMCW radar module for commercial sensor applications

Abstract

A single-chip 94 GHz frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar module has been developed for high resolution sensoring under adverse conditions and environments. The monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) includes a varactor tuned VCO with injection port, very compact transmit and receive amplifiers and a single-ended resistive mixer. To enable bidirectional operation of a single transmit-receive antenna a combination of a Wilkinson divider and a Lange coupler was integrated. The circuit features coplanar technology and cascode HEMTs for compact size and low cost. These techniques result in a particularly small over-all chip-size of only 2 x 3 mm2. The packaged 94 GHz FMCW radar sensor achieved a tuning range of 6 GHz, an output power of 1mW and a conversion loss of 5 dB. The RF performance of the radar module was successfully verified by real-time monitoring the time flow of a gas-assisted injection molding process

A 77-GHz Phased-Array Transceiver With On-Chip Antennas in Silicon: Transmitter and Local LO-Path Phase Shifting

“…This move towards mm-wave frequencies is spurred by two forces-first, the need to lower system cost and improve system performance for potentially widespread sensing applications like 24-GHz and 77-GHz vehicular radar [1]- [5] and second, the desire to achieve high data rates by leveraging the larger bandwidths available at higher frequencies such as 24 GHz and 60 GHz [6], [7], [9]. Silicon integration at these frequencies brings several benefits with it such as minimal incremental cost of devices, and short on-chip interconnects which enable the realization of complex architectures that are tailored for particular mm-wave sensing and communication applications.…”

Waveguide Integrated High-Gain Amplifier Module for Millimeter-Wave Applications

“…Because of very widely available bandwidth, several wireless communication applications such as radars [1][2][3], point-to-point wireless communications, radio-on-fiber (RoF) links [4], cellular wireless networks [5], etc. have migrated to mm-wave frequencies.…”

“…In order to avoid them, resistivity value of the flip-chip carrier [6], resonance condition of the cavity [7], chip mounting configurations [8], and resistive coating on the lid [10] had been investigated. Various modules [1,2,6,11] have been successfully implemented by reflecting these investigations. However, for the case of the highgain amplifier block requiring higher than 30 dB, signals reflected from structural discontinuities can cause stability problem due to the feedback effects [8,9].…”

A Low-Cost Wideband 77-GHz Planar Butler Matrix in SIW Technology

“…Higher frequency millimeter-wave bands are well known to offer exciting opportunities for various bandwidth-demanding and spectrumallocated applications such as short-range communications in the 60 GHz band [1] and automotive radar and imaging systems in the 77 GHz and 94 GHz bands [2], [3]. The use of a higher frequency presents some drawbacks such as the high-cost of components and high transmission loss.…”