A radar system concept for 2D unambiguous angle estimation using widely spaced MMICs with antennas on-chip at 150 GHz

Abstract

The system concept of a compact three-dimensional (3D) imaging radar in the millimeter-wave range around 150 GHz is presented. The multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar system is composed of two identical two-channel radar monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) with on-chip antennas arranged perpendicular to each other. Typically, such arrangements suffer from angular ambiguities due to large antenna spacings that come along with the MMIC footprint and printed circuit board (PCB) routing constraints. The concept of biomimetic antenna arrays (BMAAs) is used to mitigate the problem of ambiguities. The influence of applying a spherical lens to the radar system is discussed in the paper, and radar measurements show the applicability of the proposed concept.