2D Millimeter-Wave SAR Imaging with Automotive Radar

Abstract

In recent years, millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radars have gained popularity in radar imaging applications, coinciding with the advancement of mmWave technology. However, high cost and integration complexity still remain as issues in cases where the target aperture is large. This work introduces a low-cost, low-complexity, and easy-to-implement two-dimensional (2D) mmWave synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system. A commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) mmWave FMCW radar sensor operating in the frequency range of 77-81 GHz is employed. A large mechanical scanning system which can move in both vertical and horizontal directions is constructed and integrated with the radar sensor. Developing a graphical user interface (GUI), an automatic movement of the scanner is achieved. Experimental measurements are taken in a laboratory environment and the effectiveness of the system is demonstrated. A cross-shaped metal object and a drone are chosen as targets and the SAR images of targets are obtained. For simplicity, by employing a single transceiver pair, sparse samples are taken in a large scanning aperture. It has been shown that the proposed scanning system has great potential in SAR imaging of large objects such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).