Design and implementation of a hybrid digital and RF front-end module for 24-GHz intelligent transport system pulse-doppler radar

This article presents a hybrid digital and RF front-end module (FEM) of a 24-GHz pulse-Doppler radar system for intelligent transport system applications. The conventional pulse generators use analog components such as step recovery diode. It is difficult to control the parameters of the pulse. In addition, the heterodyne architecture based transceivers show good performance, but they are very expensive. To overcome these limitations, a digital pulse generator was developed based on field-programmable gate array platform to obtain high degree of freedom in a waveform design. Instead of the heterodyne architecture, a transceiver based on the homodyne architecture was developed. For the first time, hybrid digital FEM based 24-GHz pulse-Doppler radar was developed by combining a digital pulse generator and a homodyne-based transceiver. Experimental results showed the feasibility of using a hybrid digital FEM for a 24-GHz pulse-Doppler radar. The developed hybrid digital FEM contributes to the advancement of the digital radar field. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 55:16311638, 2013; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.27666