A K-u-Band CMOS FMCW Radar Transceiver for Snowpack Remote Sensing

作者：Kim Yanghyo^*; Reck Theodore J; Alonso delPino Maria; Painter Thomas H; Marshall Hans Peter; Bair Edward H; Dozier Jeff; Chattopadhyay Goutam; Liou Kuo Nan; Chang Mau Chung Frank; Tang Adrian

来源：IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2018, 66(5): 2480-2494.

DOI：10.1109/TMTT.2018.2799866

• CMOS
• frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW)
• phase-locked loop (PLL)
• range correlation
• ring oscillator
• snow depth measurement

This paper presents a K-u-band (14-16 GHz) CMOS frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar transceiver developed to measure dry-snow depth for water management purposes and to aid in retrieval of snow water equivalent. An on-chip direct digital frequency synthesizer and digital-to-analog converter digitally generates a chirping waveform which then drives a ring oscillator-based K-u-Band phase-locked loop to provide the final K-u-band FMCW signal. Employing a ring oscillator as opposed to a tuned inductor-based oscillator (LC-VCO) allows the radar to achieve wide chirp bandwidth resulting in a higher axial resolution (7.5 cm), which is needed to accurately quantify the snowpack profile. The demonstrated radar chip is fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process. The chip consumes 252.4 mW of power under 1.1-V supply, making its payload requirements suitable for observations from a small unmanned aerial vehicle.

• 出版日期2018-5