A 77-81-GHz 16-Element Phased-Array Receiver With \pm }^ Beam Scanning for Advanced Automotive Radars

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques Vol. 62; no. 11; pp. 2823 - 2832
• Main Authors: Bon-Hyun Ku, Schmalenberg, Paul, Inac, Ozgur, Gurbuz, Ozan Dogan, Jae Seung Lee, Shiozaki, Koji, Rebeiz, Gabriel M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.11.2014
• Subjects: 77-GHz circuits; Arrays; Automotive engineering; Automotive radar; Gain; Microstrip antenna arrays; phased array; Radar; receiver; Receivers; SiGe BiCMOS; Silicon germanium; transmitter
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2014.2354134

A 16-element phased-array receiver has been developed for advanced W-band automotive radars. The phased-array receiver is based on a single SiGe chip with RF beamforming capabilities, which is packaged using low-cost bond-wire techniques and attached to a 16-element linear microstrip array. The antenna results in a directivity of 29.3 dB and a gain of 28.0 dB at 77-81 GHz, and can be scanned to ±50 ° in the azimuth plane in ~ 1 ° steps. The packaging details are presented together with the steps taken to ensure a wideband impedance match and low coupling between the phased-array channels. Gain measurements done at 79 GHz agree well with simulations. The 16-element phased array receiver was used with a 2-element frequency-modulated continuous-wave transmitter at 76.5-77 GHz and high-resolution millimeter-wave images were obtained. The work shows that complex millimeter-wave phased arrays can be packaged using traditional bond-wire techniques, and can be a powerful solution for advanced automotive radars.