A compact 120 GHz SiGe:C based 2 × 8 FMCW MIMO radar sensor for robot navigation in low visibility environments

In this publication, a compact and low power radar sensor that can be used for 3D imaging purposes applications is presented. By providing two transmit channels and eight receive channels the MIMO principle for data reconstruction has been realized. A custom integrated chipset has been specifically developed for this application allowing a space saving hardware implementation. The system allows for a near-realtime reconstruction of 3D information that is suitable to be used for robot navigation in low-visibility environments. The 3 dB cross range resolution realized with the sensor shown here is 15 cm in 1m distance with a total field-of-view of 30°. The used circular antenna array topology provides a maximum sidelobe level of -8dB. The total hardware power consumption is 7W at 12 V supply voltage and the physical dimensions are 50 mm × 40 mm. Radar operation is performed around 120GHz with a measured on-chip output power of 4 dBm.