Scalable sensor platform with multi-purpose fully-differential 61 and 122 GHz transceivers for MIMO radar applications

Abstract

This paper describes a scalable sensor platform consisting of several multi-purpose 61 and 122 GHz transceivers that are designed in a fully-differential architecture and implemented in a Silicon-Germanium BiCMOS technology. The former transceiver achieves a higher transmit output power as well as receive gain and is meant for applications requiring a high dynamic range, while the latter transceiver allows a higher modulation bandwidth and is meant for high resolution applications. The transceivers include a frequency multiplier that generates the 61 and 122 GHz carrier signals from a single external 30.5 GHz LO signal that is also fed to an output buffer in the transceivers. The proposed architecture enables the cascading of multiple transceivers and allows thus the implementation of a MIMO radar system with 2 different frequency bands. The transceivers are equipped with BPSK modulators as well as an I/Q receiver and can be utilized as a base to build a very flexible software-defined radar platform.