Integration approach for radar transceiver MMICs with integrated antennas enabling adaptability to customized passive frontend design

Commercially available, low-cost radar transceivers tend to integrate all radio frequency (RF) components including the antennas, thus omitting an accessible RF interface. This limits their use for applications with special requirements, such as application-specific antenna designs. To overcome this drawback, a novel integration concept is presented that adapts integrated transceivers employing antennas-in-package (AiP) in radar systems with customized passive RF front-ends. The approach is demonstrated with a continuous-wave (CW) 61-GHz radar system tailored to the needs of medical research studies aiming to explore the morphology of the human pulse wave. The approach features 3D-printed freeform rectangular waveguides (RWG), an AiP-to-RWG transition, a 3D-printed horn fed lens antenna, and a directional coupler to implement a monostatic radar based on a commercial bistatic AiP-transceiver. Simulation and measurements validate the fulfillment of the application-specific requirements.

Subjects

3D-printing

additive manufacturing

antenna-in-package (AiP)

integration concept

lens antenna

radar transceiver

waveguides

DDC Class

600: Technology

Funding(s)

SFB 1483: Teilprojekt Kardiovaskuläres respiratorisches Mikrowelleninterferometer (A04)

Options

Integration approach for radar transceiver MMICs with integrated antennas enabling adaptability to customized passive frontend design