The fundamentals of millimeter wave radar sensors——毫米波雷达传感器基本原理

每次重看都要看英文，没法了，翻译一下，也进一步理解一下！

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1.简介

Millimeter wave (mmWave) is a special class of radar technology that uses shortwavelength electromagnetic waves. Radar systems transmit electromagnetic wave signals that objects in their path then reflect. By capturing the reflected signal, a radar system can determine the range, velocity and angle of the objects.

毫米波(mmWave)是一种利用短波电磁波的特殊雷达技术。雷达系统发射电磁波信号，在其路径上的物体会反射电磁波信号。通过捕获反射的信号，雷达系统可以确定目标的距离、速度和角度。

mmWave radars transmit signals with a wavelength that is in the millimeter range. This is considered a short wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum and is one of the advantages of this technology. Indeed, the size of system components such as the antennas required to process mmWave signals is small. Another advantage of short wavelengths is the high accuracy. An mmWave system operating at 76–81 GHz (with a corresponding wavelength of about 4 mm), will have the ability to detect movements that are as small as a fraction of a millimeter.

毫米波雷达发射信号的波长在毫米范围内。毫米波是电磁波谱中的短波长，波长短是这项技术的优点之一。事实上，处理毫米波信号所需的天线等系统组件的尺寸很小。短波长的另一个优点是高精度。一个运行在76-81 GHz(相应波长约4毫米)的毫米波系统，可以探测到精确到一毫米的运动。

A complete mmWave radar system includes transmit (TX) and receive (RX) radio frequency (RF) components; analog components such as clocking; and digital components such as analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), microcontrollers (MCUs) and digital signal processors (DSPs). Traditionally, these systems were implemented with discrete components, which increased power consumption and overall system cost. System design is challenging due the complexity and high frequencies.

完整的毫米波雷达系统包括发射(TX)和接收(RX)射频(RF)组件;模拟元件如时钟；数字元件如模数转换器(adc)、微控制器(mcu)和数字信号处理器(dsp)。传统上，这些系统采用离散组件，增加了功耗和整体系统成本。由于系统的复杂性和高频率，系统设计具有挑战性。

Texas Instruments (TI) has solved these challenges and designed complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-based mmWave radar devices that integrate TXRF and RX-RF analog components such as clocking, and digital components such as the ADC, MCU and hardware accelerator. Some families in TI’s mmWave sensor portfolio integrate a DSP for additional signal-processing capabilities.

德州仪器(TI)已经解决了这些挑战，并设计了基于互补金属氧化物半导体(CMOS)的mmWave雷达设备，集成了TXRF和RX-RF模拟组件(如时钟)，以及数字组件(如ADC、MCU和硬件加速器)。TI公司的mmWave传感器组合中的一些系列集成了DSP来实现额外的信号处理功能。

TI devices implement a special class of mmWave technology called frequencymodulated continuous wave (FMCW). As the name implies, FMCW radars transmit a frequency-modulated signal continuously in order to measure range as well as angle and velocity. This differs from traditional pulsed-radar systems, which transmit short pulses periodically.

TI设备实现了一种称为频率调制连续波(FMCW)的特殊毫米波技术。顾名思义，FMCW雷达连续发射调频信号，以测量距离、角度和速度。这与传统的脉冲雷达系统不同，传统的脉冲雷达系统周期性地发射短脉冲。

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2.测距

The fundamental concept in radar systems is the transmission of an electromagnetic signal that objects reflect in its path. In the signal used in FMCW radars, the frequency increases linearly with time. This type of signal is also called a chirp.

雷达系统的基本概念是电磁信号的传输，物体在其路径上反射。在FMCW雷达信号中，频率随时间线性增加。这种类型的信号也称为调频脉冲信号。

Figure 1 shows a representation of a chirp signal, with magnitude (amplitude) as a function of time.

图1显示了一个调频脉冲信号，其中幅度(幅值)是时间的函数。

Figure 2 shows the same chirp signal, with frequency as a function of time. The chirp is characterized by a start frequency (fc), bandwidth (B) and duration (Tc). The slope of the chirp (S) captures the rate of change of frequency. In the example provided in Figure 2, fc = 77 GHz, B = 4 GHz, Tc = 40 µs and S = 100 MHz/µs.

图2显示了单个调频脉冲信号，频率是时间的函数。脉冲信号的特征是一个起始频率(fc)、带宽(B)和持续时间(Tc)。脉冲信号的斜率(S)包含了频率的变化率。以图2为例，fc = 77 GHz, B = 4 GHz, Tc = 40µs, s = 100 MHz/µs。

An FMCW radar system transmits a chirp signal and captures the signals reflected by objects in its path. Figure 3 represents a simplified block diagram of the main RF components of an FMCW radar. The radar operates as follows: 

FMCW雷达系统发射一个脉冲信号，并捕获其路径上物体反射的信号。图3是FMCW雷达主要射频组件的简化框图。雷达的工作原理如下:

• A synthesizer (synth) generates a chirp.

首先，合成器(synth)产生一个脉冲信号。

• The chirp is transmitted by a transmit antenna (TX ant).

接着，脉冲信号由发射天线(TX)发送。

• The reflection of the chirp by an object generates a reflected chirp captured by the receive antenna (RX ant).

然后，脉冲信号被一个对象反射产生一个反射的脉冲信号并被接收天线(RX)捕获。

• A “mixer” combines the RX and TX signals to produce an intermediate frequency (IF) signal.

最后，混频器将RX和TX信号结合起来产生中频(IF)信号。

A frequency mixer is an electronic component that combines two signals to create a new signal with a new frequency.

频率混频器是一种电子元件，它将两个信号结合起来，产生一个具有新频率的新信号。

For two sinusoidal inputs x1 and x2 (Equations 1 and 2):

对于两个正弦输入x1和x2(方程1和2):

The output xout has an instantaneous frequency equal to the difference of the instantaneous frequencies of the two input sinusoids. The phase of the output xout is equal to the difference of the phases of the two input signals (Equation 3):

输出的瞬时频率等于两个输入正弦波的瞬时频率之差。输出信号xout的相位等于两个输入信号的相位差(式3):

The operation of the frequency mixer can also be understood graphically by looking at TX and RX chirp frequency representation as a function of time.

频率混频器的工作也可以通过观察TX和RX脉冲频率表示作为时间的函数来理解。

The upper diagram in Figure 4 on the following page shows TX and RX chirps as a function of time for a single object detected. Notice that the RX chirp is a time-delay version of the TX chirp.

图4显示了TX和RX脉冲信号作为检测到的单个对象的时间函数。注意，RX脉冲信号是TX脉冲信号的一个时延版本。

The time delay (t) can be mathematically derived as Equation 4:

时延(t)的数学表达式为式4:

where d is the distance to the detected object and c is the speed of light.

其中d是到被探测物体的距离，c是光速。

To obtain the frequency representation as a function of time of the IF signal at the output of the frequency mixer, subtract the two lines presented in the upper section of Figure 4. The distance between the two lines is fixed, which means that the IF signal consists of a tone with a constant frequency. Figure 4 shows that this frequency is St. The IF signal is valid only in the time interval where both the TX chirp and the RX chirp overlap (i.e., the interval between the vertical dotted lines in Figure 4).

为了得到频率表示作为时间的函数的中频信号在频混器的输出，减去图4上部的两行。这两条线之间的距离是固定的，这意味着中频信号由一个频率恒定的音调组成。图4显示该频率为st。IF信号仅在TX脉冲信号和RX脉冲信号重叠的时间间隔内有效(即图4中垂直虚线之间的时间间隔)。

The mixer output signal as a magnitude function of time is a sine wave, since it has a constant frequency. The initial phase of the IF signal (F0) is the difference between the phase of the TX chirp and the phase of the RX chirp at the time instant corresponding to the start of the IF signal (i.e., the time instant represented by the left vertical dotted line in Figure 4). (Equation 5):

混频器输出信号作为时间的幅度函数是一个正弦波，因为它有一个恒定的频率。如果中频信号的初始阶段(F0)不同于TX脉冲和RX脉冲的初始阶段即时对应的IF信号的开始(例如,即时由左侧垂直虚线表示在图4)方程(5):

Mathematically, it can be further derived into Equation 6：

数学上可进一步推导为式6:

 In summary,for an object at a distance d from the radar, the IF signal will be a sine wave (Equation 7), then:

综上所述，对于距离雷达d的物体，中频信号为正弦波(式7)，则:

The assumption so far is that the radar has detected only one object. Let’s analyze a case when there are several objects detected. Figure 5 shows three different RX chirps received from different objects. Each chirp is delayed by a different amount of time proportional to the distance to that object. The different RX chirps translate to multiple IF tones, each with a constant frequency.

到目前为止，假定雷达只探测到一个物体。让我们分析一个检测到几个对象的情况。图5显示了从不同物体接收到的三种不同的RX脉冲。每一个脉冲都被延迟不同的时间，与到那个物体的距离成比例。不同的RX脉冲成多个IF音调，每个都有一个恒定的频率。

This IF signal consisting of multiple tones must be processed using a Fourier transform in order to separate the different tones. Fourier transform processing will result in a frequency spectrum that has separate peaks for the different tones each peak denoting the presence of an object at a specific distance.

这种由多个调频组成的中频信号必须使用傅立叶变换进行处理，以分离不同的调频。傅里叶变换处理将得到一个频谱，不同的音调有不同的峰值，每个峰值表示在特定距离上存在一个物体。

*这个方程是一个近似值，只有当斜率和距离足够小时才有效。然而，中频信号的相位对距离的微小变化()仍然是线性响应的。

**在这篇介绍性白皮书中，我们忽略了中频信号的频率对物体速度的依赖。在快速fmcw雷达中，这通常是一个很小的影响，一旦多普勒- fft处理后，进一步可以很容易地校对。

3.距离分辨率

Range resolution Range resolution is the ability to distinguish between two or more objects. When two objects move closer, at some point, a radar system will no longer be able to distinguish them as separate objects. Fourier transform theory states that you can increase the resolution by increasing the length of the IF signal.

距离分辨率是区分两个或多个对象的能力。当两个物体靠近时，在某一时刻，雷达系统将无法将它们区分为不同的物体。傅里叶变换理论表明，你可以通过增加中频信号的长度来增加分辨率。

To increase the length of the IF signal, the bandwidth must also be increased proportionally. An increased-length IF signal results in an IF spectrum with two separate peaks.

为了增加中频信号的长度，带宽也必须按比例增加。长度增加的中频信号会导致中频频谱有两个独立的峰值。

Fourier transform theory also states that an observation window (T) can resolve frequency components that are separated by more than 1/THz. This means that two IF signal tones can be resolved in frequency as long as the frequency difference satisfies the relationship given in Equation 8：

傅里叶变换理论还指出，观测窗(T)可以分辨分离大于1/T Hz的频率分量。这意味着两个中频信号音调在频率上可以分解，只要频率差满足式8的关系:

其中Tc是观测区间。由于，故式8可表示为:

距离分辨率(dres)只取决于脉冲信号扫频的带宽(公式9):

因此，具有GHz脉冲带宽的FMCW雷达将具有厘米量级的距离分辨率(例如，脉冲带宽为4 GHz转换为3.75 cm的距离分辨率)。

4.测速

 In this section, let’s use phasor notation (distance, angle) for a complex number.

 在本节中，让我们使用相量符号(距离，角度)来表示复数。

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下面是两物体速度测量

In order to measure velocity, an FMCW radar transmits two chirps separated by Tc. Each reflected chirp is processed through FFT to detect the range of the object (range-FFT). The range-FFT corresponding to each chirp will have peaks in the same location, but with a different phase. The measured phase difference corresponds to a motion in the object of vTc.

为了测量速度，FMCW雷达发射两个由Tc时间隔开的脉冲信号。对每个反射的脉冲进行FFT处理，检测目标的距离(range-FFT)。每个脉冲信号对应的距离fft将在相同的位置有峰值，但不同的相位。测量到的相位差对应于vTc物体的运动。

 The phase difference is derived from Equation 6 as Equation 10：

相位差由式6推导为式10:

You can derive the velocity using Equation 11:

 你可以用公式11推导出速度:

Since the velocity measurement is based on a phase difference, there will be ambiguity. The measurement is unambiguous only if.

由于速度测量是基于相位差的，因此会有歧义。只有当时，测量才明确。

Using Equation 11 above, one can mathematically derive

利用上面的等式11，可以从数学上推导出

Equation 12 provides the maximum relative speed (vmax) measured by two chirps spaced Tc apart. Higher vmax requires shorter transmission times between chirps

 公式12给出了两个以Tc为间隔的脉冲测量的最大相对速度(vmax)。更高的vmax需要更短的脉冲之间的传输时间。

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下面是多物体速度测量

The two-chirp velocity measurement method does not work if multiple moving objects with different velocities are at the time of measurement, both at the same distance from the radar. Since these objects are at the same distance, they will generate reflective chirps with identical IF frequencies. As a consequence, the range-FFT will result in single peak, which represents the combined signal from all of these equi-range objects. A simple phase comparison technique will not work.

如果测量时多个不同速度的运动物体距离雷达的距离相同，则双脉冲测速方法不适用。由于这些物体距离相同，它们会产生具有相同中频频率的反射脉冲。因此，距离- fft将产生单峰，代表来自所有这些等距离目标的合并信号。简单的相位比较技术是行不通的。

In this case, in order to measure the speed, the radar system must transmit more than two chirps. It transmits a set of N equally spaced chirps. This set of chirps is called a chirp frame. Figure 7 shows the frequency as a function of time for a chirp frame.

在这种情况下，为了测量速度，雷达系统必须发射两个以上的脉冲。它发送一组N个等间距的脉冲信号。这组脉冲被称为脉冲帧。图7显示了脉冲帧的频率与时间的函数关系。

The processing technique is described below using the example of two objects equidistant from the radar but with different velocities v1 and v2.

下面以两个距离雷达相等但速度v1和v2不同的物体为例描述处理技术。

Range-FFT processes the reflected set of chirps, resulting in a set of N identically located peaks, but each with a different phase incorporating the phase contributions from both these objects (the individual phase contributions from each of these objects being represented by the red and blue phasors in Figure 8).

距离-fft处理一组脉冲反射，得到一组N个相同位置的峰值，但每个峰值都有不同的相位，包含了这两个目标的相位贡献(图8中的红色和蓝色相量代表了每个目标的单独相位贡献)。

 A second FFT, called Doppler-FFT, is performed on the N phasors to resolve the two objects, as shown in Figure 9.

第二个FFT称为多普勒-FFT，对N相量执行以解析两个对象，如图9所示。

w1 and w2 correspond to the phase difference between consecutive chirps for the respective objects (Equation 13)： 

 w1和w2分别对应各自物体连续脉冲的相位差(式13):

5.速度分辨率

The theory of discrete Fourier transforms teaches us that two discrete frequencies, w1 and w2, can be resolved if Dw = w2 – w1 > 2p/N radians/sample. Since Dw is also defined by the following equation (Equation 10), one can mathematically derive the velocity resolution (vres) if the frame period Tf = NTc (Equation 14):

离散傅里叶变换理论告诉我们，当时，可以解析出两个离散频率w1和w2。由于也由(式10)定义，当帧周期(式14)时，可以从数学上推导出速度分辨率(vres):

 

The velocity resolution of the radar is inversely proportional to the frame time (Tf ).

雷达的速度分辨率与帧时间(Tf)成反比。

6.测角

 An FMCW radar system can estimate the angle of a reflected signal with the horizontal plane, as shown in Figure 10. This angle is also called the angle of arrival (AoA).

Angular estimation is based on the observation that a small change in the distance of an object results in a phase change in the peak of the range-FFT or Doppler-FFT. This result is used to perform angular estimation, using at least two RX antennas as shown in Figure 11. The differential distance from the object to each of the antennas results in a phase change in the FFT peak. The phase change enables you to estimate the AoA.

 

在此结构中，相变的数学推导式为式15:

 在平面波阵面的假设下，基本几何表明，其中l为天线之间的距离。因此，由实测的可得到到达角(8)，公式16为:

 注意依赖于。这被称为非线性相关性。只有当的值很小时，才近似为一个线性函数。

 As a result, the estimation accuracy depends on AoA and is more accurate when has a small value. as shown in Figure 12.

 因此，估计精度依赖于AoA，当值较小时，估计精度更高。如图12所示。

 7.最大视角

雷达的最大视场是由雷达可估计的最大视场角来定义的。见图13所示。

 

 需要明确的是测量角度需要根据式16，这对应于

 由式17可知，间隔为l的两个天线可服务的最大视场为:

 天线间距为时，最大视场为±90°。

 8.TI毫米波传感器解决方案

As you can see, an FMCW sensor is able to determine the range, velocity and angle of nearby objects by using a combination of RF, analog and digital electronic components.

正如你所看到的，FMCW传感器能够通过使用射频、模拟和数字电子元件的组合来确定附近物体的距离、速度和角度。

 Figure 14 is a block diagram of the different components.

图14是不同组件的框图。

TI has brought innovation to the field of FMCW sensing by integrating a DSP, MCU and the TX RF, RX RF, analog and digital components into a RFCMOS single chip.

 TI公司在FMCW传感领域进行了创新，将DSP、MCU和TX RF、RX RF、模拟和数字元件集成到RFCMOS单片机中。