Miniaturized Millimeter-Wave Radar Sensor for High-Accuracy Applications

A highly miniaturized and commercially available millimeter wave (mmw) radar sensor working in the frequency range between 121 and 127 GHz is presented in this paper. It can be used for distance measurements with an accuracy in the single-digit micrometer range. The sensor is based on the frequency modulated continuous wave (CW) radar principle; however, CW measurements are also possible due to its versatile design. An overview of the existing mmw radar sensors is given and the integrated radar sensor is shown in detail. The radio frequency part of the radar, which is implemented in SiGe technology, is described followed by the packaging concept. The radar circuitry on chip as well as the external antennas is completely integrated into an 8 mm x 8 mm quad flat no leads package that is mounted on a low-cost baseband board. The packaging concept and the complete baseband hardware are explained in detail. A two-step approach is used for the radar signal evaluation: a coarse determination of the target position by the evaluation of the beat frequency combined with an additional determination of the phase of the signal. This leads to an accuracy within a single-digit micrometer range. The measurement results prove that an accuracy of better than +/- 6 mu m can be achieved with the sensor over a measurement distance of 35 mm.