MULTIFUNCTIONAL RADAR SENSOR FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION

A multifunctional radar system for vehicles consisting of two modules with a combined bistatic/monostatic arrangement is presented. One modu le acts as a transceiver, whereas the other is a receiving circuit. Th e transmitting part radiates a frequency-modulated signal alternately in two orthogonal polarizations. The receiving parts work with differe nt local oscillator (LO) frequencies and detect both polarizations of the scattered signal simultaneously. From the resulting Doppler spectr a and a distance measurement, the velocity, tilt angle, height with re spect to ground, and the direction of the movement of a vehicle can be derived. From the polarimetric information, a classification of the r oad condition is possible. In a first approach, the sensor was built i n a conventional waveguide technique. The second step was to realize t he millimeter-wave circuits of both modules with monolithic silicon mi llimeter-wave integrated circuit (SIMMWIC) technology. To achieve a fl at arrangement, a leaky-wave antenna is developed and coupled to the S IMMWIC's.