Search

A photonics-based leakage cancellation and echo signal de-chirping approach for frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar systems is proposed based on a dual-drive Mach–Zehnder modulator (DD-MZM). The de-chirp reference signal and the leakage cancellation reference signal are combined and applied to the upper arm of the DD-MZM, while the received signal, including the leakage signal and echo signals, is applied to the lower arm of the DD-MZM. When the amplitudes and delays of the leakage cancellation reference signal and the leakage signal are precisely matched, the leakage signal is canceled in the optical domain. The de-chirped signal is obtained after the leakage-free optical signal is detected in a photodetector. An experiment is performed. The cancellation depth of the leakage signal after de-chirping is around 23 dB when the center frequency and bandwidth of the linearly frequency-modulated signal are 11.5 and 2 GHz, respectively. When the leakage cancellation is not employed, the leakage will seriously affect the imaging results and distance measurement accuracy. When the leakage cancellation is enabled, the imaging results of multiple targets can be clearly distinguished, the distance measurement error of a moving target is significantly reduced to less than 10 cm, and a dynamic range increase of 21 dB is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we derive the exact response of an interferometric correlation radar to an arbitrary scene containing $N$ independent point scatterers. The response of an interferometric radar to multiple targets can be complicated by the nonlinear processing, which generates intermodulation responses in addition to the desired fundamental frequency responses. An accurate signal model is critical for predicting and mitigating these intermodulation products and allows for model-based parameter estimation methods to be used to estimate target angular velocity. We derive a general response to an arbitrary number of independent targets and validate both the exact model and a simpler approximate model via simulation and experimental measurement with a 38-GHz continuous-wave interferometric radar. The experiment contains two targets traveling perpendicular to the radar’s line-of-sight on linear stages at speeds of 0.36 and 0.5 m/s. We use an error metric to describe the similarity between the measured or simulated time–frequency response and the time–frequency response of a signal generated using the frequency estimates of either the exact or approximate models and show that in regimes where the small-angle approximation holds, both models provide an accurate representation of the measured or simulated interferometric response, demonstrating the feasibility of these models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at realizing on-chip real-time human activity recognition based on the miniaturized and integrated radar with limited computational resources, hyperdimensional computing (HDC) is a promising method due to its unique advantages including high energy efficiency, excellent robustness, lightweight model, and superfast learning process. This article reports on the first use of HDC in the radar system to recognize human activities. First, we design an image mask method to minimize the impact of interference in original radar micro-Doppler spectrograms and apply a fast envelope extraction method to fully reflect features of different human activities. Subsequently, we select the most applicable representation methods for HDC to encode and recognize these features. To better accelerate the convergence speed, enable subtle adjustments of the HDC model, and improve the recognition accuracy, we propose a new adaptive retraining method, Mask-Retraining. Finally, the accuracy of recognizing six human activities using HDC with Mask-Retraining reaches 92.93%. Experimental results and comparisons between HDC and ten recognition algorithms demonstrate the validity of our methods. In most cases, HDC outperforms other algorithms being compared both in recognition accuracy and computational cost. Especially, HDC becomes the prime and irreplaceable candidate when only small datasets or finite data points are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a novel spoofing device capable of injecting false target information into a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar. The spoofing device uses a radio frequency (RF) single-sideband (SSB) mixer to introduce a frequency shift to the incoming RF signal transmitted by the victim radar and retransmits the modulated RF signal. The modulated RF signal resembles a false target. Upon down-conversion on the receiver chain of the victim radar, the modulated RF signal creates an illusion of a real target in the radar signal processing system. The frequency shift can be adjusted to vary the range of the spoofed target. The theory of the spoofing mechanism was developed, and a 5.8 GHz prototype was built for experimental validation. Experimental results demonstrate the ability of the proposed spoofing device to inject a false target at any arbitrary range. A hybrid-chirp FMCW approach was proposed and verified as a countermeasure to distinguish a real target from a spoofed target to mitigate the RF-spoofing attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radar imaging using the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) principle is a common method to obtain information about e.g., the surface of a target. However, most image formation algorithms for such systems assume (quasi-)static measurements. This may lead to errors in the processed images if the sensor is moving during the measurement process. This is especially the case for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW)-based sensors since the signal duration is longer than in a pulsed system and the achievable bandwidth is much larger and introduces additional challenges. Motion compensation in the context of radar imaging is usually related to the correction of deviations from an ideal trajectory. In contrast, this article presents a method to take the sensor movement during a single FMCW ramp into account and therefore addresses the effects caused by a continuous path during the transmit/receive process. Hence, faster movement can be achieved during the scanning of the synthetic aperture without being bound by stop-and-go approximations. In addition, it will be shown that the algorithm is suitable to reduce systematic errors due to aliasing caused by spatial sampling below the Nyquist rate. For this purpose, this article presents simulations and measurement results, obtained by an ultrawideband $D$ -band FMCW radar operating between 122 and 170 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel matrix-pencil (MP)-based interference mitigation approach for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radars is proposed in this article. The interference-contaminated segment of the beat signal is first cut out, and then, the signal samples in the cutout region are reconstructed by modeling the beat signal as a sum of complex exponentials and using the MP method to estimate their parameters. The efficiency of the proposed approach for the interference with different parameters (i.e., interference duration, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and different target scenarios) is investigated by means of numerical simulations. The proposed interference mitigation approach is intensively verified on experimental data. Comparisons of the proposed approach with the zeroing and other beat-frequency interpolation techniques are presented. The results indicate the broad applicability and superiority of the proposed approach, especially in low SNR and long interference duration situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a short-range cooperative radar system in the 77-GHz band for the estimation of kinematic parameters, such as position, velocity, and acceleration of a target. The proposed system uses two FMCW radar sensors that are operated incoherently and only depend on a common trigger for coarse synchronization. The resulting frequency offset and phase offset in the beat spectrum of the radar sensors are eliminated through calibration with a known active reference target. For easy detection of the reference target in the beat spectrum, a novel interchirp modulation method is proposed. The sampled data of a single receive channel of only one of the sensors of the system allow for a complete estimation of the kinematic target parameters. The theoretical analysis of incoherent FMCW radar systems is carried out, and the constraints and signal processing algorithms are derived from the results. The theory and operating principle of the proposed system are verified through measurements in an anechoic chamber. The accuracies for the position, velocity, and direction of movement (DoM) estimation are better than 10 mm, 0.03 m/s, and 1.4°, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a new universal radar target simulator (RTS) principle based on multirate sampling. The proposed concept enables a realistic emulation of moving targets independently of the radar type and signal and is suited for all common modulation types, such as frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW), chirp sequence (CS), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), and pseudorandom impulse sequences. This versatile applicability is achieved by delaying the radar signal with a time-variant delay that is changed continuously over time. Analog systems use mixing to simulate moving targets, which is not precise. Standard digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) systems with discrete programmable time delays, in contrast, typically drop or delay samples to simulate moving targets. This time-delay discretization, however, introduces discontinuities to waveforms and therefore creates spurious signals. These distortions particularly affect processing in the Doppler dimension. To overcome this disadvantage, the proposed multirate system simulates continuous target movement and the Doppler effect of real targets by using different sample rates for an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The resulting Doppler phase variation equals that of a real moving target exactly. With this multirate RTS, even slow-moving real-world targets can be mimicked accurately. The attractive properties of the proposed RTS concept are verified by real-world measurements with a 77-GHz demonstration system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the resolution of imaging radars, electrically large arrays and a high absolute modulation bandwidth are needed. For radar systems with simultaneously high range resolution and very large aperture, the difference in path length at the receiving antennas is a multiple of the range resolution of the radar, in particular for off-boresight angles of the incident wave. Therefore, the radar response of a target measured at the different receiving antennas is distributed over a large number of range cells. This behavior depends on the unknown incident angle of the wave and is, thus, denoted as range-angle coupling. Furthermore, the far-field (FF) condition is no longer fulfilled in short-range applications. Applying conventional signal processing and radar calibration techniques leads to a significant reduction of the resolution capabilities of the array. In this article, the key aspects of radar imaging are discussed when radars with both large aperture size and high absolute bandwidth are employed in short-range applications. Based on an initial mathematical formulation of the physical effects, a correction method and an efficient signal processing chain are proposed, which compensate for errors that occur with conventional beamforming techniques. It is shown by measurements that with an appropriate error correction an improvement of the angular resolution up to a factor of 2.5 is achieved, resulting in an angular resolution below 0.4° with an overall aperture size of nearly 200 $\lambda _{0}$. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new architecture of self-injection-locked (SIL) quadrature radar sensor based on a metamaterial (MTM) leaky-wave antenna (LWA) to detect multi-target vital sign and location simultaneously is proposed for the first time. The angular information of targets is obtained by a 1-D MTM LWA with −50° to +30° beam-steering angle when the frequency varies from 1.85 to 2.85 GHz. Furthermore, the distance from the radar sensor to the targets is obtained by imposing the frequency-shift keying (FSK) modulation on the radar waveforms. Meanwhile, the vital sign signals of multiple targets can be extracted from the Doppler frequency spectrum. For the proof of concept, two frequencies, 2.24 and 2.45 GHz, are chosen to detect two targets at different locations, which correspond to the scanning angle at −10° and −40°, respectively. A first-order microwave differentiator followed by a quadrature coupler is employed to convert the radio frequency (RF) signals from the output of the MTM LWA to in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) RF signals with frequency-dependent amplitudes, thereby eliminating the null point issues for radar detection. Experimental results show that the proposed SIL MTM radar sensor can detect the target location accurately, while the obtained vital sign results agree well with the ground truth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital modulations such as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) have received increasing interest for radar. However, the required fast analog-to-digital (AD) and digital-to-analog (DA) converters providing the necessary bandwidth have not been feasible for automotive applications so far. In this paper, the first highly integrated, fully coherent OFDM radar capable of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and stepped-carrier OFDM for automotive applications is presented. The stepped-carrier OFDM approach is adopted to reduce AD/DA requirements using an analog local oscillator (LO) frequency step generator. The capability to generate frequency steps with a duration of a few microseconds required for automotive applications is demonstrated. Calibration steps that are required with the new architecture are discussed and measurements are done to validate the functionality of the system. Also, possibilities for adaptive reconfiguration of the radar sensor in the presence of ambiguities are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The requirement of fast analog-to-digital (AD) and digital-to-analog (DA) converters is a challenge for high-resolution orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) radars. This paper introduces a method to increase the modulation bandwidth of an OFDM signal by using an additional frequency modulated continuous wave carrier to reduce the requirements for the AD/DA converters while maintaining a high unambiguous velocity range. Multiplexing of transmit antennas with OFDM is still possible with the combined modulation. The presented approach is verified by simulations and measurements. A reduction of AD/DA converter bandwidth by factor eight is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a novel concept for frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar. The approach is based on an interlaced chirp sequence waveform, which is controlled by phase-locked loops (PLLs). The use of PLLs improves frequency chirp linearity and reduces phase noise compared with open-loop voltage-controlled oscillators commonly used to generate the fast chirps. In contrast to basic range–Doppler processing, it enables higher target velocities to be detected unambiguously at the same resolution, which makes it suitable for automotive applications. Separate frequency synthesizers generate the interlaced ramps in the system. An RF switch combines these two signals to suppress transients caused by oscillator overshoot and to avoid incoherencies due to programming times of the PLL ICs. We built a prototype radar system in K-band. The test results are promising and bode well for other applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With new generations of high-resolution imaging radars, the orientation of vehicles can be estimated without temporal filtering. This enables time-critical systems to respond even faster. Based on a large data set, this paper compares three generic algorithms for the orientation estimation of a vehicle. An experimental MIMO imaging radar is used to highlight the requirements of a robust algorithm. The well-known orientated bounding box and the so-called L-fit are adapted for radar measurements and compared with a brute-force approach. A quality function selects the best fitted model and is a key factor to minimize alignment errors. Moreover, the reliability of the estimation is evaluated with respect to the aspect angle, the distance to the target, and the number of sensors. An approach to estimate the reliability of the current orientation estimation is introduced. It is shown that the root mean square error of the orientation estimation is 9.77° and 38% smaller compared with the common algorithm. In 50% of the evaluated measurements the orientation estimation error is smaller than 3.73°. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the impulse radar and the spread-spectrum (SS) radar, the through-wall imaging with three stationary targets or a moving target in a room are obtained, respectively, and compared in this paper. We then analyze the influences of different analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and noise levels on imaging quality. Results show that the SS radar has a great advantage over the impulse radar in some ways, such as covert waveform, engineering realization, excellent anti-noise performance, and accurate tracking. Furthermore, the target localization accuracy is much easier to be affected by sampling frequencies of ADC. Besides, the stationary targets can still be recognized accurately in the image, even when one target is very close to the wall, and the receiving signals of the SS radar are added with 0-dB noise and sampled by a 4-bit 3-GHz ADC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Flicker noise and dc offset have strong impacts on the performance of zero-IF receivers. In this paper, we propose a generalized approach to eliminate such impacts on zero-IF architecture pulse compression radars (PCRs). The conventional low-pass filter in a zero-IF receiver is replaced with a predefined filter (PDF) to filter out the dc and low-frequency components from the demodulated radar signal. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that, based on the prior knowledge of the radar signal and the PDF, the performance degradation, due to the complete filtering of the low-frequency components, can be recovered through a newly deduced compensation equation. Our approach can be widely used in the implementation of highly integrated high-performance PCR systems in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a prototype automotive radar sensor is presented that is capable of generating simultaneously multiple transmit (TX) beams. The system is based on a four-channel 77-GHz frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar system. The number of beams, their radiated power, steering angle, and beam pattern can be changed adaptively. This is achieved by the utilization of orthogonal waveforms applied to different beams in combination with digital beamforming on the receive side. Key components are vector modulators in the TX path controlled by digital-to-analog converters. The performance of the system is shown in measurements focused on beam pattern, signal-to-noise ratio, and susceptibility in case of interfering targets at cross-range. Measurement results are discussed and compared to theory and simulations. Furthermore, crest factor minimization of the vector modulator's control signals is introduced and used to increase the achievable TX power, which will be also shown in measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a radar system for local positioning applications is presented. The system consists of frequency modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) stations operating in W-band that are loosely coupled using time-delayed ramp start signals. A centralized signal processing approach allows to relax the required synchronization accuracy between the stations and further leads to a cancellation of phase noise and phase distortions caused by imperfect FMCW ramps. All stations are equipped with an antenna array and multiple receivers. Thus, a signal processing approach is developed in this work that combines the positive effects from the centralized processing with the information from the antenna array in a digital-beamforming based approach to improve the multipath robustness of the overall system. The developed theory is confirmed in measurements carried out with a prototype system consisting of two stations. Various measurements in multipath environments confirm the improved robustness leading to a worst-case root-mean-square position error of 15 mm under strong multipath conditions which were simulated inside an anechoic chamber. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This contribution describes a novel millimeter-wave radar system for security checks of persons. The goal of the system is not the classical airport checkpoint situation, but it should support existing security systems by a fast and effective prescreening of moving persons to identify threats in an early stage. With the proposed experimental system, exceptionally dangerous objects can be detected and localized on the body of moving persons. The radar operates in the W band between 96 and 99 GHz and consists of one transmit and five coherent receive channels. The transmit and receive modules are fabricated in split-block technology using 100-nm metamorphic HEMT MMICs processed at Fraunhofer IAF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]