Evaluation of a UWB radar interface for low power radar sensors

This paper evaluates a novel energy efficient method of converting the time of flight of UWB radar pulses from time domain to digital domain with picosecond resolution using multiple time-voltage converters and a low power analog-digital converter. The system features single shot - multi target capability and uses only a fraction of the energy consumption of traditional highspeed ADC or counter - based solutions with much higher resolution. The method addresses a key challenge of todays UWB radar systems. The power required to convert ultra short signals from time domain to digital domain often renders UWB radars unattractive for battery powered systems like remote sensor networks. With the proposed system it is possible to overcome this limitation. Energy requirements of 0.14 nJ per range scan with a standard CMOS process are demonstrated. The results of this work are compared to state of the art solutions.