Phase Modulated Bistatic Radar with an Analog Correlator: Theory and Implementation

Abstract

<p>This work presents a phase-modulated radar based on an analog correlator. We demonstrate a novel radar architecture that combines the energy efficiency of analog processing and the accuracy and flexibility of digital processing while avoiding their respective pitfalls. We introduce the proposed analog correlator, describe its theory of operation, and develop a numerical model to analyze and predict the output and the detection sensitivity. Furthermore, we verify the accuracy of this model with time-domain simulations. Next, we perform a thorough system design, and present system and circuit-level simulations of the proposed architecture.</p> <p>As a proof of concept, a radar system-on-chip prototype is fabricated with the TSMC 65nm technology. The chip can operate in both monostatic and bistatic fashion. The die area of the E band radar chip is 1.5mm× 1.3mm and it consumes a total power of 407mW with only 38mW associated with baseband processing when operating at a bit rate of 1Gbps. The RMS radar measurement accuracy compared to the physical distance is 11.6cm and the absolute error stays below 25cm throughout the entire measurement range. The proposed architecture and proof of concept demonstrates the ability to perform precision sensing while delivering substantial power saving compared to state-of-the-art radars.</p>