14.2 An Early Fusion Complementary RADAR-LiDAR TRX in 65nm CMOS Supporting Gear-Shifting Sub-cm Resolution for Smart Sensing and Imaging

Smart sensing provides comprehensive and effective environment information through complementary signals in data acquisition. As an emerging solution, the multimodal sensing becomes essential and boosts applications in automotive, defence, transportation, life-rescue, and hazard identification, etc. [1]. X-band RADAR exhibits a good balance between free-space loss and directivity, providing bandwidth (BW)dependent range resolution and penetration despite weather conditions in far range. On the other hand, LiDAR features a sub-mm spatial resolution [2], complementarily providing accurate detection in near range. In Fig. 14.2.1, a conceptual system of phased-array RADAR associated with LiDAR (RALDAR) is developed for a radio-laser fusion sensing in the analog domain, taking advantages of the complementary sensing in terms of speed, range and resolution, etc, and more importantly the real-time processing capability of the early fusion.