Compact FMCW design for short range millimeter-wave radar imaging applications

This paper presents the design of a new compact, low cost, FMCW millimeter-wave radar for high-resolution, short range imaging applications. In this design, problems that have limited the performance of classical FMCW radars were solved. A W-band FMCW radar with better than 0.3 m range resolution, 1° beamwidth, 25 kHz chirp rate, 19 dBm output power, and operating in real-time, was constructed and its performance characterized. The new system is capable of detecting in real-time a weak target, whose rcs is -20 dBsm, located at a distance of 300 m, and having a 20 dB in signal-to noise ratio.