Impact of ADC clipping and quantization on phase-modulated 79 GHz CMOS radar

Wideband phase-modulated continuous wave radar offers attractive properties, but requires very high-speed analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). In order to keep power consumption of these ADCs acceptable, their resolution has to be kept as low as possible. We investigate which ADC resolution is required for a typical 79 GHz person detection scenario. The analysis is based on simulations performed with an end-to-end Matlab simulation chain, taking into account the waveform specifics, chip implementation, propagation effects, targets and environment. We conclude that in the considered scenario a 4 bit ADC is sufficient. This result shows that complete 79 GHz radar system-on-chip implementations in advanced CMOS nodes are feasible, enabling a wide array of novel applications in automotive, industrial and consumer products.