An RF-Domain Leakage Cancellation Scheme for FMCW Radars

TL;DR

This paper introduces an RF-domain leakage cancellation scheme for FMCW radars that significantly reduces leakage, improving target detection and clutter discrimination through innovative RF and transmitter techniques.

Contribution

It presents a novel RF-domain leakage cancellation method using IQ-mixers and a Wilkinson combiner, enhancing radar dynamic range without extra hardware.

Findings

Achieves over 20 dB leakage cancellation in simulations

Improves radar's ability to distinguish close targets

Enhances dynamic range and clutter suppression

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel solution to address the leakage from the transmitter (TX) to the receiver (RX) in frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radars. The proposed scheme replicates the leakage using an in-phase and quadrature mixer (IQ-mixer) and performs leakage cancellation in the radio-frequency (RF) domain. This approach utilizes a Wilkinson power combiner after the RX antenna to subtract the replicated leakage signal from the received signal, ensuring that only the true target signal reaches the low-noise amplifier (LNA). This scheme enhances the dynamic range and the receiver's ability to discern proximate targets from previously indistinguishable low beat-frequency clutter. In addition, the proposed technique incorporates a second IQ-mixer based complex modulator in the transmitter to tune the leakage beat frequency. This allows for accurate estimation of the leakage amplitude and phase without additional hardware. Simulation results show more than 20 dB of leakage cancellation.