An mmWave Frequency Range Multi-Modulus Programmable Divider for FMCW Radar Applications

Recently, there has been a major shift in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) from the camera and LiDAR-oriented systems to mmWave radar-based systems. Such high-frequency band radars currently using frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) technique require programmable dividers with large divide ratios and fine frequency resolution to obtain high-frequency chirps with sufficiently large bandwidth. This paper presents a low-power multi-modulus programmable frequency divider for a frequency synthesizer operating in the 19.25-20.25 GHz frequency band from a reference frequency of 40 MHz. The divider consumes 14 mW of power and is capable of producing divide ratios in the range of 481.25-506.25 with a fine resolution of 1 MHz. The divider has a phase noise of −146 dBc/Hz at an offset of 2 kHz.