학술논문

An RF-SoC-Based Ultra-Wideband Chirp Synthesizer
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Access Access, IEEE. 10:47715-47725 2022
Subject
Aerospace
Bioengineering
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Computing and Processing
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Engineering Profession
Fields, Waves and Electromagnetics
General Topics for Engineers
Geoscience
Nuclear Engineering
Photonics and Electrooptics
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Robotics and Control Systems
Signal Processing and Analysis
Transportation
Chirp
Synthesizers
Radar
Field programmable gate arrays
Timing
Radar remote sensing
Clocks
RF-SoC
chirp-synthesizer
FM-CW
radar
FPGA
Language
ISSN
2169-3536
Abstract
This paper presents the design and development of a digital two-channel chirp synthesizer using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) device. To achieve an integrated solution, the design was implemented on radio-frequency system-on-chip (RF-SoC) technology that includes digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and other radio-frequency components on-chip. To overcome the timing errors in high-speed design with DACs operating at 6.144 GHz, a memory-stitching concept was used. A prototype was developed to validate this concept by generating a baseband chirp with a bandwidth of 1.7 GHz and a sweep time of 36 $\mu \text{s}$ . The synthetic chirp was upconverted to 3.572-5.272 GHz for use as the transmit signal for an ultra-wideband radar to characterize the chirp using a 1 km long optical delay line. The transmit signal was analyzed in terms of phase and amplitude errors and corrected for these errors. The root-mean-square (RMS) frequency deviation of the predistorted chirp from linearity over the 1.7 GHz bandwidth is 9.64 kHz, realizing a chirp linearity of 0.00057%. The measurement data show comparable performance of our chirp synthesizer against a commercially available arbitrary-waveform-generator (AWG) operating at a sampling rate of 60 GHz. The reported chirp synthesizer can be used in frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FM-CW) and stretch radars. Such radars are widely used for a variety of remote sensing measurements.