Estimation techniques and simulation platforms for 77 GHz FMCW ACC radars

¹ Institut TELECOM, TELECOM Bretagne, Lab-STICC, Technopôle Brest Iroise, CS 83818, 29238 Brest Cedex 3, France
² Autocruise, a TRW Automotive branch, 29280 Plouzané, France

^a e-mail: thierry.chonavel@telecom-bretagne.eu
^b e-mail: frantz.bodereau@trw.com

Received: 24 January 2011
Revised: 15 August 2011
Accepted: 25 August 2011
Published online: 28 November 2011

Abstract

This paper presents two radar simulation platforms that have been developed and evaluated. One is based on the Advanced Design System (ADS) and the other on Matlab. Both platforms are modeled using homodyne front-end 77 GHz radar, based on commercially available monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC). Known linear modulation formats such as the frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) and three-segment FMCW have been studied, and a new variant, the dual FMCW, is proposed for easier association between beat frequencies, while maintaining an excellent distance estimation of the targets. In the signal processing domain, new algorithms are proposed for the three-segment FMCW and for the dual FMCW. While both of these algorithms present the choice of either using complex or real data, the former allows faster signal processing, whereas the latter enables a simplified front-end architecture. The estimation performance of the modulation formats has been evaluated using the Cramer-Rao and Barankin bounds. It is found that the dual FMCW modulation format is slightly better than the other two formats tested in this work. A threshold effect is found at a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 12 dB which means that, to be able to detect a target, the SNR should be above this value. In real hardware, the SNR detection limit should be set to about at least 15 dB.