76GHz OFDM Radar Demonstrator with Real-Time Processing for Automotive Applications

In recent years orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) has attracted lots of attention in research as a possible modulation scheme for future radars. Due to increasing hardware capabilities, the focus of OFDM development has been broadened even by automotive applications despite its challenging requirements on sampling rates and processing power. This paper presents a demonstrator dealing with these demands by using a baseband unit with broadband digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters, a field-programmable gate array for real-time signal processing and monolithic microwave integrated circuits designed particularly for digital modulation schemes like OFDM. The setup can operate in the automotive radar band between 76 and 81GHz and provides two quadrature transmit and receive channels in a multiple-input multiple-output configuration.